


Will U B My Majorette Queen?

by Callyie_Chan



Category: Codename: Kids Next Door, Ed Edd n Eddy, Powerpuff Girls, Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Crack Pairing, Crossover, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Multiple Crossovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-27
Updated: 2012-12-27
Packaged: 2017-11-22 16:26:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 44,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/611843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callyie_Chan/pseuds/Callyie_Chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blossom tries to get closer to Brick by trying out to become the Head Majorette of the school's marching band. But not if Princess tries to stop her. Crossover with many different cartoons. Originally uploaded on Fanfiction.net</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Observation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All my italics got messed up... I'll fix that later... you're better off reading it on Fanfiction at first...

"I absolutely hate days like this."

Blossom was sitting in her favorite class, AP Chemistry. But it wasn't her favorite today. It was more like she hated it. She looked around the room, looking extremely agitated. Everyone was up and about, playing games and talking with their friends. Even the teacher was wasting valuable time by surfing the web on her computer.

Blossom sighed loudly and looked up at the ceiling. I was looking forward to our lesson about stoichiometric calculations. She thought.

She went in her bag and took out her binder (which was perfectly organized by the way) and then started to review yesterday's lesson. She smiled deeply. The periodic table always brought her to peace.

"Good afternoon Townsville High! It's your principal Mrs. Utonium, and I think you know what time it is." yelled a high pitched voice over the school's intercom system.

Everyone in the classroom got up and started in an outburst of explosive cheering.

"As you know, today is our first football game of the school year. And you know how we like to keep up with our traditions here in Townsville High. Right?"

The class got up cheered once more, getting even more obnoxious than before. All Blossom could hear and see was the enthusiastic cries of her classmates, their constant banging on the desks, and the sea of black and white apparel. It was clear to see why someone like Blossom despised days like these. Today was Football Friday.

"So we're going to continued what we been doing for the last 25 years!" The principal continued. "I now dismiss the entire school to go out ans support our mighty monsters in a home game against Farmville. I hope to see the stands packed with black and white and showing enormous spirit! GO MIGHTY MONSTERS!"

As soon as she finished her sentence, the whole school rushed into the hallway and went down to the stadium. Blossom took her time putting away her materials, sighing again but with more emotion.

Mom gets so excited by these pointless football games. Blossom thought as she walked out the empty classroom. She admits that having your new mom as the principal has it perks, but having her constantly embarrass you was not one of them.

As she walked down the hallway, she noticed that there was were still a decent amount of people hanging around. That was probably because the game didn't start until two o'clock and it was only 12:45. Nevertheless, she was pleased that most of the hyper-active kids were gone and only the calm quiet ones remained.

After a while, Blossom finally reached her locker. She continued putting her things in it and making sure everything was orderly. When she was done, she decided to walk down to the gymnasium to meet up with her sister, Bubbles. There was no question that she was there warming up with the other cheerleaders.

Bubbles stood proudly in front of her team. She couldn't believe she was head cheerleader. She been training for years for this and her dream finally came true.

"So here it goes. Go mighty monsters. Do it right. Go mighty monsters. Fight. Fight. Fight. Any questions?"

A Asian girl with long dark hair raised her hand. "Um. Could you do that again. I still didn't get it"

All the other girls sighed deeply, but Bubbles just smiled. She wasn't the type to get mad, especially to the newbie. "Ok, Kuki. I'll show you again."

Bubbles once again did the cheer, moving her hands and feet in time with the beat she had in her head. When she was done she looked at Kuki. "Do you have it done."

Kuki looked at ground nervously. "I think I do. But I'm not sure."

"Oh c'mon! What do you mean your not sure. You know it or you don't." yelled a fiery red-head.

"Oh, Sarah. It's not her fault she doesn't know anything." remarked a sassy little boy with ice blond hair.

Bubbles looked at the two with a disappointed look. Some of her teammates could be so mean.

"Now, Sarah, Jimmy. Let's not be cruel. We are a team. We must help each other, not put them down."

The two gave her a look of annoyance. "What does that have to do with us?" asked

Sarah.

"It means if you're so concerned about her learning the cheer, get your butts over there and help her out."

Bubbles said with a forced smile.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Let's go Jimmy."

Jimmy stuck his nose up in the air and snapped his fingers before he went and followed his best friend.

Bubbles put her hand on head. She tries so hard to be nice, but some people just push her over the limit.

From the corner of her eye, she could she her sister walking toward her.

"Ok girls! Keep on practicing! I'll be right back!" she yelled to her team, then she ran to meet up with her sister.

"Hey, Blossom!" Bubbles said joyfully.

"Hey, Bubbles." she replied with far less emotion.

Bubbles was puzzled. "What's wrong sis?" she asked.

"It's nothing..." Blossom said quietly.

Bubbles playfully rolled her eyes. "Oh. I know what's wrong." She grabbed Blossom's arm and started to drag her away.

"Where are you taking me?" Blossom said shocked.

"To see someone." she replied a bit evilly.

Blossom then started to calculate all the possible persons that Bubbles could be bringing her to meet. When she came up with a conclusion, she blushed a deep red.

"Oh, no! Not him!" yelled Blossom frantically.

"Oh yes! I know you been dying to talk to him all week."

Blossom was tying her hardest to break free, but Bubbles had an unbelievably strong grip. So, all she could was yell.

"Bubbles! Let go of me this instant!"

Bubbles was almost to their destination, until a familiar figure walked up to them.

"What the heck are you doing." asked Buttercup.

Blossom sighed in relief. She was saved from any soon to be embarrassment.

"Thank goodness your here Buttercup!" Blossom proclaimed.

Buttercup smiled at her two sisters. They were always doing something stupid.

"So, what's all this about?" she asked again.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just bringing our dear sister to see 'him'."

"You mean 'him'?" she questioned.

Bubbles shook her head deviously, and Buttercup responded with a grin.

"Oh. What didn't you say so?" Buttercup said sarcastically. She grabbed Blossom by her other arm, and she and Bubbles continued to drag her across the grass.

"Buttercup! How could you!" yelled Blossom.

Buttercup was usually the one protecting her from Bubbles evil schemes. Now she was acting as her accomplice in crime.

"Please don't bring me to him! I'll do your homework for a week!" Blossom pleaded.

Buttercup and Bubbles ignored her cries and looked out into the field until they found who there were looking for.

"Relax smarty pants. He's too busy talking so some girl." said Buttercup.

"Some girl?" Blossom said shocked.

She quickly got to her feet and looked along with her sisters. There he was. A tall slender boy with red blazing eyes and radiant orange hair, much like her own. Blossom could feel her whole body warm up, with beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

Buttercup started to fan herself. Apparently, she could feel it too. Heat was radiating from Blossom like an oven.

"Can you chill out. We're not even close to the guy."

Blossom blushed and remained silent. She didn't know why her emotions showed so strongly.

Bubbles squinted her eyes to try to get a closer look at the couple. "Who is that girl?" she questioned.

Buttercup went in for a second look. "I know that chick. That's Robin."

"Robin? Who's that?"

"You know. That girl we used to play with when we were kids."

"Oh! That Robin. I thought she moved."

"No, your thinking about the guy Robin. The one with the spiky hair and the weird mask."

Blossom was getting extremely impatient with the current conversation, so she decided to end it by covering her sister's mouth with her hands.

"Ok. We know who Robin is. But what does that have to do with being with Brick."

Bubbles was the first to take Blossom's hand off her mouth and speak. "Well, Brick is the Drum Major and I think Robin is the Head Majorette."

Blossom gave Bubbles a confused expression. "The what and the what?"

Buttercup took Blossom's remaining hand off her face. "Have you ever been to a football game before."

Blossom rolled her eyes. "Please. I don't have the time for such foolish things."

Bubbles put her hands on her hips and smiled. "I can't believe this. Your suppose to be the smartest girl in school. I guess I have to explain."

"Bubbles trying to explain something. This is gonna be good." said Buttercup.

Bubbles cleared her head and took a deep breath before she began.

"Ok. Here we go. A drum major is the person who directs the band while there marching on the field. Their main purpose is to keep the tempo. The majorettes are kinda like dancers, and used along with the color guard they are used to create a visual effect during a half time show."

Blossom and Buttercup stood there in amazement.

"Wow Bubbles. I'm impressed." said Buttercup.

"Just because I have a C average, doesn't mean I'm stupid."

Buttercup puts her hand on her shoulder. "Yup Bubbles. You're a real genius."

Blossom glanced over at Brick and Robin. They looked like they were having a deep discussion about something. She wondered what they were talking about.

She turned back to her sisters. "So what's so special about the Head majorette?" she asked.

Bubbles put her finger on her chin. She had to think about this for second.

"Umm.. Oh yeah! I remember now. They get to wear a cute cape, they get to walk down the field with the Drum Major, and I think they do some cute little dance together, and then the Drum Major gives her a kiss before he goes on the podium."

"A kiss? Blossom yelled.

"Yeah. But it's nothing spectacular. It's just a kiss on the cheek." Bubbles said, trying to reassure her sister.

"And they do this every game." Blossom asked.

Bubbles nodded her head. "Yeah. Pretty much."

Blossom took a moment to think to herself. How simply amazing it would be to spend all that time with the boy she had a crush on since the 6th grade. And plus that kiss every game. That's basically every game from September to December. Her heart melted just from the thought of it. After analyzing all her thoughts. She came up with a final conclusion.

"I have to be the Head Majorette." she announced.

Bubbles cheerful expression quickly changed to sorrowness, as if she had to deliver heart stopping news to her dear sister.

"I'm sorry Blossom. They already had all the band try-outs over the summer. The only way you can become the Head Majorette, if she gave she gave up her position."

Disappointed spread across Blossom's face. "Yeah, and why would she want to do that for. She has the best job in the world."

Bubbles reached in and hugged her sister. "Don;t worry Blossom. There are other ways to get Brick's attention."

Blossom looked at Bubbles with a growing confidence. "Yeah. Your right Bubbles. I'm positive there;s other ways."

"Hey, isn't those the football players?" asked Buttercup.

She pointed to a group of boys huddled up in a huge cluster.

"Oh no! I'm missing the pre-game pep talk!" said Bubbles. "I'll talk to you later."

Then she ran off to join the football players and her teammates.

"So. Are you staying for the game?" Buttercup asked Blossom.

"No, I think I'll head to the library." she replied.

"We get let out of school early and you go to the library. Are you serious?"

"Fine. I'll go to the dumb game. But only because I don't want you to drag me."

"And because you want to see Brick." Buttercup added.

Blossom blushed and took Buttercup by her hand. "Let's go already. I want to get a good seat."

Buttercup rolled her eyes and they started their walk to the local stadium. Unaware of a certain spoiled brat who was carefully listening from behind a giant oak tree.


	2. Intimadation

The notorious Princess Morebucks came from behind the oak tree sporting a rather devious look. You could tell by her demanding body language that she was brainstorming an evil plan that will probably end up ruining somebody's life. Two people exactly. Well, it might be more than two by the end of it. She didn't care.

She took out a mirror a mirror and began to admire herself. She thought she looked absolutely gorgeous, with her emerald eyes and luminous red hair. No wonder the boys couldn't keep their hands off her. But there was still one boy who wasn't under her spell. That will soon change if things go according to plan.

"Lackie! Come get this!" she yelled.

A orange hair girl approached her from behind the tree.

"It's Mindy." the girl replied while taking the mirror from her hand.

Princess gave her an intense glare. "I'll call you whatever you want. You work for me now. Now let's go."

Mindy picked up her and Princess' stuff off the grass and followed her. She was getting extremely irritated with herself. She used to be the popular bully in her old school. Now she was pushed to the bottom of the social ladder, forced to work as a lackie for someone else just to survive. How humiliating.

Princess approached her next victim. She was a tall athletic type, with long brown hair and sky blue eyes. She was generally a nice girl, and Princess was going to use that weakness to get what she wanted.

"Hey, girl. What's up." Princess said with a fake smile.

"Hello, Princess." Robin looked down at her watch. "Oh no. It's 1:20. they wanted all the Majorettes dressed and on the sidelines by 1:15. We have have to go Princess."

Princess grabbed Robin's shoulder and lead her to the stadium. "Ok. But let's talk on the way."

Robin was starting to feel uncomfortable. "Umm.. so... what do you want to talk about."

"Well, you know how hard I worked to become a Majorette. Do you."

"Yeah. I mean we all had to work really hard to get were we are now."

"Ok. But don't you think someone worked a little bit harder than you to become Head Majorette?"

"What?" she replied with a confused expression.

"I think I should be the Head Majorette. I worked harder than you."

Robin almost bust out laughing. "You a hard worker. You basically bribed your way up to second Majorette. And you expect me to give you my position just like that? You must be joking."

"Why not." Princess pleaded. "You and me used to be friends. We had a history together."

Robin broke away from her grip. "Yeah. A history I rather not repeat."

Then she began to walk to the stadium, leaving Princess and her lackie in the dust.

Princess was getting restless, this whole nice girl routine wasn't working out. So she decided to go with something she knew. She aggressively pushed Robin to the ground, where she landed on her face with a huge thud.

"Lets cut the crap girl. Your going to let me become the Head Majorette." she ordered.

Robin sat up and spat the blood that was coming from her mouth on to the grass.

"You never should of done that Princess. When I tell the principal about this, you'll kicked out of band and you'll get suspended. And none of your little lies are going to help you. I'm all the proof I need."

Princess smiled at her threat. "Not if you say that you tripped while running to the stadium."

Robin continued wiping the blood from her face. "And why would I tell them that?"

"Well, I don't know. Maybe because of this."

she snapped her fingers and Mindy went in her bag and took out a manila envelope. She then began to hand it to Princess. Robin;s heart began to race and sweat started forming on her forehead. She tried to speak, but her mouth was as dry as sand. All she could manage was a arid gasp.

Princess's eyes glowed with a dazzling satisfaction. She fed on the fear of her enemies, and she drunk their pain like a cool refreshing beverage.

"You have the right to be terrified." she said while opening the envelope. "Your entire life is in my hands."

She went in the envelope and took out a single Polaroid photo. It was ripped and torn in many places and it looked like it came from the trash. Princess examined the photo carefully for a moment. Then she began to laugh like a hysterical mad woman. She was laughing so hard that it forced her to the ground.

"Oh Robin! You naughty girl!" Princess yelled in between her crazed outbursts.

Robin automatically knew what the picture was ans she felt her heart stop.

"I-I thought I threw that picture out years ago!" she cried.

Princess got up from the ground and wiped her face like nothing had happen. Then she smiled.

"It's amazing what a private detective can find at the city dump. Isn't it?"

She helped Robin up and cleaned her up.

"I think you know the deal. You give me what I want and I don't show this to the whole world."

Robin brushed some more dirt off of her and fixed her fixed hair. She might have been beaten up pretty good, but she had still had some fight left in her.

"And how will I know that you kept your side of the deal?" she asked.

She snapped her fingers again and Mindy went in Princess's purse and took out a solid gold lighter She then hand it to her cautiously. Princess took it from her and smiled a bit wickedly, and Mindy responded with a disturbed look. She didn't know if Princess was crazy or insane. She never seen anyone go from laughing on the floor crazy to perfectly fine in two seconds. She was nervous to even be around her.

"If you agree, I'll burn the picture right in front of your face." said Princess.

"Fine." Robin replied.

"Oh. That was quick. Are you sure?"

"Don't play games with me. Just burn that picture and stay out of my life."

"What ever you say."

Princess held the lighter in her hands with the mysterious photo slightly hanging above it. She flicked the switch and the three girls watched as the picture melted into black nothingness.


	3. Confrontataion

"What do you mean you're quitting?" Brick asked.

Robin slightly turned away and played with her hair. "I just have other things to do right now." She replied.

"But right before the game?" he added, and then he looked her over again. "And please tell me what happened to you."

"I told you. I tripped while coming here."

"Oh please Robin. You know that's a lie. Just tell me who hurt you."

Robin was getting annoyed. "Nobody hurt me. Ok!"

Tears started to form in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away.

"Listen. Can you please tell the band director that I quit."

Brick finally gave up questioning her. "Fine, I'll tell him."

Robin smiled and gave him a wink. "Thanks. I'll see you later." She then ran into a crowd of students.

Brick ran the events over and over in his head. Then a single question emerged.

"Wait!" he yelled to the crowd of students, hoping that Robin would hear him. "Who's going to be the new Head Majorette?"

"Hey, Brickie!"

When Brick heard that voice, he was almost afraid to turn around. But he did and what he saw made him physically sick.

"How do you like the new outfit? It really becomes me. Don't think?"

Brick glared at her and asked a single question. "What did you do to her?"

Princess covered her mouth and acted surprised. "Whatever do you mean Brick?"

Rage filled up within the young Drum Major as Princess continued to fool around.

"You know what I mean. What scam did you pull on Robin to make her give up her position."

Princess smiled at him. "Robin? Like ill ever waste my precious time on that piece of trash. That whore probably fell on her face while chasing after some boy."

"You're disgusting." Brick responded.

"Oh, Brick! Stop it, you're flattering me."

Princess turned around and began to walk away. "I'll be waiting for my kiss."

"How about a slap instead."

Princess stopped in her tracks and walked back up to Brick. "Oh, so you think your all bad now." She pointed to her cheek. "If you're so bad, then do it. Do it right here."

Brick slowly lifted up his hand. He was so tempted to end all of this with a single horizontal motion of his hand to her face. But he stopped himself.

"What's wrong? You scared." She asked with a grin.

"No. I just don't think it's my place to slap you. I'll let someone else do it for me."

Princess chuckled. "Who? I run this whole school. Everyone is under my control."

"Oh, I know a couple of people who want first swing at you."

"Please. Those dirty color guard girls? They're a bunch of sluts."

"You're the last person who needs to be calling someone a slut. I know how you get your straight A's. let me just say it involves being on your knees."

Princess was left speechless. "H-how dare you! Have you been telling people that?!"

"I only told a couple of my band mates and my brothers, but everyone knows Butch can't keep a secret."

"Ahh!" Princess yelled out. "I can't believe this! You are going to pay for that, and your little girlfriend is too." Then she stormed off and joined the other majorettes.

Girlfriend? Who was she talking about? I hope she didn't mean Robin. We're just good friends, thought Brick.

He shrugged it off and went to put on his Drum Major uniform. He couldn't wait to brag about his victory against Princess with his friends.

It was early into the second quarter and Brick and his friends were hanging out at the sidelines waiting for halftime. It was close to 3:30 and the sun was blazing. It was ridiculous how hot it could get in September, especially when you have a thick band uniform on. But the three friends had to tough it out as always.

"Wow, Brick. You really showed her. What happened next?" asked Nigel Uno. A British boy wearing dark sunglasses on. He was also the section leader of the tubas or the sousaphones as he liked to call them.

Brick wiped the sweat off of his forehead. "Nothing much. She just ran off saying that I'll pay."

"Mmm." That's interesting. I thought Princess was rather… unintelligent." said Double D. A boy with dark hair and dark brown eyes. He was a percussionist, specializing in the marimba and the steel guitar. He was also the Co-Captain. He took Brick's place when he was sick.

Brick got himself a bottle of water and took a sip. "Yeah, she's an idiot when it comes to school, but she's a genius when it comes to sabotage and blackmail."

"Someone should really teach that bitch a lesson." said Nigel.

"Yeah, hopefully someone else will take her place." Brick replied.

The whistle blew to end the second. The score was tied at an even 14 points. It was now time for the halftime show.

"I guess that wasn't that bad." Blossom admitted. "I didn't know Boomer and Butch was on the football team."

"Duh, Butch is the quarterback and Boomer is one of the receivers." Replied Buttercup.

"Is the quarterback the one who catches the ball?

Buttercup wiped her face in annoyance. "Geez. Now you sound like Bubbles. Where have you been all your life? Under a rock?"

"No. At the library."

"What's the difference?"

Blossom ignored her sister and pointed out to center field. "Hey! The band's here!"

Buttercup stood up. "Well, I'm out."

"How come?" Blossom asked confused.

"No one really watches the band show. This is the time where everyone gets snacks, goes to the bathroom and all that good stuff."

"Well, I'm staying here to watch."

"Suit yourself. Do you want anything from the food stand?"

"A diet soda will be fine."

"Diet? Are you serious?"

"Just get it."

Buttercup shrugged her shoulders and walked away, and Blossom turned back around to watch the band. They were already set up in a simple box formation with their horns at attention.

"Hello fellow students! It's your principal Mrs. Utonium!

Blossom buried her face in her hands. Here we go again, she thought.

"And don't forget about me!" yelled a cheerful young boy.

"Bradley, please sit down."

"What's up everyone! Brad Utonium in da house!"

"Bradley Charleston Utonium! Sit down and give me that microphone. Don't make me tell your father."

The whole stadium burst into laughter. Even the band on the field was trying their hardest not to break attention. Blossom looked around her to find people whispering and pointing at her. At that point she wanted to kill herself. She hated when mom brought her eight year old brother, Bradley to the press box. He always found some way to embarrass her.

A couple of more seconds of brokering and Mrs. Utonium finally managed to get the microphone from her son.

"I'm sorry about that. Now where was I? Oh, yes. Now introducing our Mighty Monster Marching Band!"

A whistle was blown and the whole band stepped aside leaving a single aisle in the center of the field.

"And now introducing our Drum Major, Brick Whales!"

Brick stepped out with his baton held high. His white drum major uniform really stood out against the rest of the band's black ones. Blossom could see him clearly and she blushed at the sight of him.

"And our Head Majorette, Robin-... wait what? Oh, there seems to be a change in the lineup. Everyone please welcome our new Head Majorette, Princess Morebucks."

Princess walked out and executed a pose for the crowd and they cheered in response. Some of the color guard girls booed at her. But Princess just smiled and disregarded them .

Haters gonna hate, she thought.

Brick looked over at the band director, he was furious. He sighed. We are so getting extra laps for this.

Brick blew a whistle and the band began to play the school's fight song. He took Princess's hand and basically dragged her across the field. He just wanted to get this over with. The band continued to play while Brick rushed through the little dance routine with Princess. When the band was done, Brick began to climb up the podium. But Princess grabbed him by the cape and pulled him back down.

"How about my kiss?" she asked.

Brick glared at her. "I rather die in a fire."

Princess gave him a devious grin."Fine then."

She pulled Brick close to her and forcefully kissed him on the lips. Brick jerked back and pushed her away. The kiss only lasted two seconds, but it felt like two centuries to Brick. He turned around to see the whole stadium dead quiet, with all their eyes on him. Then he looked over to the band director. He was fanatically pointing to the podium gesturing Brick to continued, looking as angry as ever.

Princess walked away feeling satisfied with her work, she smiled up at the crowd and took her place with the other majorettes.

Blossom was shocked. Did Princess just manage to kiss her potential boyfriend right in front of everybody? She blinked her eyes in confusion.

And she had the nerve to smile at me, she thought.

She quickly got up. She swore she was going to light a fuse if she had to stay here any longer. She felt angry, but at the same time she was distressed. She didn't know why she felt like this and she didn't know how to deal with it. This was the first time she had all these emotions swarming inside her all at once. It was most likely because she never liked someone as much as she liked Brick.

She was about to run off before someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, what did I miss?" Buttercup asked.

"I'll tell you later." Blossom replied.

"Do you still want your soda?"

Blossom took the diet cherry soda out of her sister's hand.

"Thanks... I think I'm going to go home now."

Buttercup gave a look of concern. "Do you want me to walk with you?"

"No, I'm fine."

Blossom got her purse and began her long walk out of the stadium. All while the sun was setting on that Friday afternoon.


	4. Realization

"I still can't believe that girl."

Bubbles opened her locker and grabbed a Spanish textbook from inside. Then she looked over at her two sisters.

"Blossom, are you sure you're okay?"

Blossom turned away from her sister and adjusted her bow. "I told you Bubbles. I'm fine."

"But you were crying all weekend."

Blossom groaned. "Okay, it's over now. Can we please drop the subject."

"Well, if you ask me, I don't think there's any point in crying over that kiss. I mean, it's not like Brick likes Princess. She's a hoe." said Buttercup.

"Enough about that girl." Blossom uttered.

"Where's Princess anyway? I thought I saw her earlier today." asked Bubbles.

"She went home early. I heard there was some hideous monster growing on her upper lip." Buttercup replied.

Bubbles wrinkled up her nose and stuck her tongue out. "Ew, how do you get those things anyway?"

"How do you think. By sticking too many balls in your mouth."

"Buttercup, don't say that. It's vulgar. Where did you hear that rumor from?" said Blossom.

"Butch told me."

"And you honestly believe him?"

"After the mess Princess pulled on Friday. Yes."

"Well, I think-" Bubbles began to say, but then a blond haired boy came from behind her and covered her eyes.

"Guess who." he said playfully.

"Umm... is it Ben Tenison from third period history?"

The boy looked disappointed. "No. It's me Boomer."

Bubbles turned around and kissed her boyfriend. "I knew it was you. I was just messing with you."

Boomer laughed. "That was a good one." Then he looked over to her sisters. "Hey, Blossom. Hey, Buttercup."

"Good morning Boomer. You did great in the game on Friday." said Blossom.

"Thanks, it feels good to bring another win to the team."

"So, how's your brother doing?" asked Buttercup.

"Brick? Aww man, he's a wreck. He spent all weekend trying to get the Princess taste out of his mouth and Butch kept on messing with him. It was hilarious."

"Butch is so immature." said Blossom.

"Well, that's how he is and you can't really help that."

Boomer looked over at the digital clock hanging from the ceiling. "Man, I got to go. If I'm late to biology again I might get suspended from the next game."

He bends over and kissed Bubbles on the cheek. "Bye Bubbles."

"Wait, what's in your pocket?" she asked.

Boomer looked down to see a pink piece of paper sticking out of his shirt pocket.

"Oh, yeah. Brick was hanging these all around campus. Something about band." He gives the paper to Bubbles. "See ya." Then he runs off.

The three girls gather around and Bubbles read the pink paper aloud.

"The Mighty Monster Marching Band needs a new majorette. If you think you're up for the challenge, come and try-out on October 5th after school in the band room."

Bubbles and Blossom looked at each other and then started to jump around and scream. In the middle of their parade, the bell rang and the remainder of the students in the hall ran to their classes.

"Umm, guys. The bell just rang."

Bubbles glared at Buttercup. "Screw the bell! My sister has a change at love."

Blossom took the paper from Bubbles and read it again. "I can't believe this. I have a chance to be the Head Majorette."

"So, telling me that your going to learn everything about being a majorette in two weeks?" asked Buttercup.

"Oh, come on Buttercup. It's possible."

"Yeah right."

Bubbles glared at her sister once more and Buttercup responded by sticking out her tongue.

"Well, anyway. We have to go. We're already two minutes late."

Buttercup rolled her eyes. "Oh, wow. What ever will we do if we missed one more second of PE." she said sarcastically.

"PE's not so bad. You get to wear cute shorts."

"Let's just go before they take all the good volleyballs."

"Okay." Bubbles replied. She waved goodbye to her older sister. "See ya later Blossom."

She walked off without saying a word, all she could think about was a chance to be with Brick.

"What the heck is her problem?" Buttercup asked.

"It's love." Bubbles replied while smiling.

"So glad I don't have any of that."

"Oh, it will be your turn soon enough."

"As if."

Then the two sisters walked to their next class together.

Blossom walked into her AP Chemistry class. She went to her usually seat by the window, but to her surprise it was taken.

Oh, crap. I forgot, I'm late, thought Blossom.

The teacher turned around. "Blossom your late."

Then the whole class turned around and stared at her. Blossom could feel her face warm and there was no doubt that she was blushing a bright red.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Matthews. It will never happen again."

"You know my policy Ms. Utonium. If your late you get detention. But since this is your offense, I'll let it slide."

"Thank you."

"Very well, now go take a seat."

Blossom quickly found a seat at the back of the classroom. She took out her binder and got started on her warm-up problem. But Mrs. Matthews already erased it off the board. So she was left staring at a blank piece of paper. She looked around the room, everyone else was working expect for her. It felt so awkward. A finger lightly touched her shoulder.

"You can copy my warm-up, Blossom." said a boy with bright red hair and the weirdest pair of eye ware Blossom has ever seen.

Blossom smiled joyfully. "Thank you Jack. You're a life saver."

Jack blushed and gave her his notebook. She quickly copy the question and gave it back to him.

"Thanks again. I owe you one."

"No problem." he said with a sharp squeaky voice. He gasped and quickly covered his mouth.

Blossom giggled at him, then she turned and got started on her work.

Jack put his head on the desk and sighed. She probably thinks I'm a big joke. God, why am I such a huge spaz when it comes to talking directly to her. I can talk to her when she's facing away, but not when she's facing me. It's ridiculous.

He turned back around to see Blossom looking at a pink piece of paper, then she turned it over and started drawing on the back of it. He didn't think anything of it at first, so he continued his work. But when he turned back around a moment later, the page was filled with hearts and the name Brick.

Who the heck is Brick? Jack thought.

He waited until Blossom finished a little stick man drawing of the two holding hands. He immediately recognized the long ponytail and the baseball cap.

So that's Brick. What's so special about him? He's just the stupid drum major.

He continued to watch Blossom draw until the end of class. When the bell rung, jack got his stuff and went to his locker. When he got there he found a pink paper taped on it. He looked around the hallway, they were up everywhere. He now remembered that this was the paper Blossom was drawing on in class. He ripped the paper off the locker and read it.

Oh, so that's why she likes Brick. She's into band, thought Jack.

He crumbled the paper and threw it on the floor.

"Well, I guess I'll take a visit to the band room after school." he concluded.

Then he walked off to the lunch room. He heard they were having pudding cups today.

Brick spent most of his school day hanging up stupid flyers. He was in the school's lunchroom hanging up the last couple. He pulled out the tape from his pocket and tapped the final flyer on a vending machine. He sighed in relief.

"That was the last one. Thank god."

The smell of food entered his nostrils, and then his stomach started to rumble. He was starving, he had to be at school at 5:45, a whole two hours before school even started. So he forgot to eat breakfast. He was desperate for some french fries, but he couldn't eat yet. He still had more chores to do. He dragged himself back to the band room where his band director was waiting for him. He walked into his office and closed the door behind him.

"Okay, I'm finish hanging the flyers."

The band director was sitting in his big office chair, turned away from Brick. He was busy watching some old marching band tapes from years past.

"Good, now clean all the tubas. Including the spit valves. I want them shining."

"But, Mr. T" Brick moaned.

The man quickly turned around and faced the teenage boy. The first thing you notice about the man was that he was bald, but the most noticeable thing about him was his giant nose.

"That's Mr. Tentacles to you. I will not allow you refer to me as some action character from a mediocre television show from the 80's. Even though I do 'pity the fool'."

"You kept me prisoner here all day. Can I have a break?"

"Listen, this is a band. And what this band did on Friday was unacceptable. A band who marches together, gets punished together."

"So, why is it that I'm the only one getting punished?"

"Don't question me." He turned his chair back around. "Now, when your finished cleaning the tubas. I want this band room swept. You kids are disgusting."

Brick rolled his eyes and placed his hands on the desk.

"It's not all my fault you know. It was Princess. She's evil, I mean literary. She did something to Robin to make her quit. I know she did."

"What are you talking about? Princess is the kindest, most generous, and loyalist person I know." Mr. T said with little emotion.

"Yeah right. How much money did she pay you to say that? Or did she do something else for you?"

Mr. T turned back around and put his legs on the desk. "I will never do that. I took the money of course. I'm not as desperate as some of these old perverts at this school.

"Why do you do it? Why do you go along with her dirty tricks?"

"Princess has this school wrapped around her pretty little finger. If us guy teachers don't follow her orders, with one call she can have us fired, or worst."

So, why don't you just tell Mrs. Utonium? She's a woman, Princess has no control over her."

Mr. T took a moment to adjust his brown suit jacket.

"That sounds like a good idea. But, we don't have any proof, Princess has spies all around campus. So anyone trying to get some will get busted."

"There must be some way to stop her."

"Hey, if we can get some dirt on her. I'll be happy to get rid of that sorry excuse for a girl. But, we don't. So I guess we're going to have to live with it."

"Not if I have anything to do with it." Brick said with a smile. He grabbed his jacket and walked out of Mr. T's office.

Mr. T raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Where do you think you're going?"

Brick peeked his head back in the room. "I'm going to solve our Princess problem, and plus I'm starving."

Mr. T waved him away. "Fine, but you're still going to have to do all these chores. I don't care if you're here until one in the morning. They're getting done."

"Sure. So, I was thinking about going to Wendy's. Do you want anything?"

Mr. T glared at his student. "Don't talk to me like one of your friends. I am your teacher. A respected role model. A-"

"Are you done?" Brick said in annoyance.

"Yeah, gimme a chicken salad with Caesar dressing."

Brick smiled. "Okay, I'll be back."

Brick knew Mr. T for about six years now. He first meet him when was he was in 6th grade beginner band. He was working as a teacher assistant at his middle school. They hit it off immediately. Mr. T has a short temper and is easily irritated. So he generally hates children. But Brick was really mature for his age, so they got along well. Mr. T's instrument of choice was the clarinet. His playing skill wasn't good, oh let's face it. He couldn't play worth a crap, but he still loved it and he locked music. So, he obviously wanted his favorite pupil to learn the clarinet. But he didn't account for Brick's astounding musical talent. So he quickly switched him to tenor saxophone, so nobody could think that he was better at the clarinet that him. Now he's the band director at Townsville High.

Brick went out the back door and walked out into teacher's parking lot. He was cautious while he made his trip to his car. It was against the rules to leave campus to go get lunch, and he really didn't want to get caught. He sneaked behind the band truck and basically ran across the street to the student parking lot. He got in his old beat up car and drove off as quickly as he could. First, he was going to get some lunch. But after, he was going to talk to very special people.


	5. Orientation

Blossom was in her last class of the day, Japanese. It was an exclusive class, only for students who have a 4.0 GPA and who has the top test scores in the nation. That was a small list, so there was only about ten students in the whole class. But Blossom didn't mind, only because she was sitting next to Brick. This was the only class she had with him and she spent most of her time daydreaming about him.

The desks in the classroom were set up in a circle, but only there weren't desks. The students sat on pillows and had to sit on their knees Japanese style. The room was also decorated like some modern dojo, completed with real bamboo mats and colorful paper lanterns. The teacher Ms. Mayumi Yorishima, really wanted to make sure that her students had a true Japanese experience.

"Now class, who can tell me how to say 'I love you'." she asked with her thick accent.

The whole class remained quiet. Even Blossom had trouble trying to come up with an answer.

"Aishiteru." said Brick.

Ms. Yorishima leaped for joy. "That is right Brick-san! You get a very special treat."

She went her desk and pulled out a box of chocolate flavored pocky. Brick bowed before taking the cookie treat. "Domo arigato, Yorishima-sensei."

The young teacher shrieked. "Aww, your are so cute Brick-san! Who knows the the word for cute? Anyone?"

"Kawaii" the whole class groaned. That was one of the first words they learned and Ms. Yorishima couldn't stop saying it. Most of the class thought she was crazy.

"Okay, let us stop class for today. Please talk among yourself."

Brick started to open his box of pocky while the other eight students talked about their weekends to one another. He was about to a chocolate covered stick in his mouth, until he saw Blossom staring at him from the corner of his eye.

He turned to her and gave her a friendly smile. "Umm... hey Blossom."

Blossom just realized that she was staring at him. She quickly turned away and blushed. "Hey, Brick."

She couldn't believe that Brick was talking to her. He's usually the type to keep to him self. And was probably as red as a tomato right now.

He probably thinks I look foolish, Blossom thought.

"I don't think you look foolish." he replied.

Blossom blinked in confusion. She could have sworn she thought of that in her mind.

Brick put his arm behind his head. "Okay, that probably sounded weird. It's not like I can read your mind or anything. I know how to read body language. You look like a girl whose insecure about the way she looks to others. Oh, I'm not saying you look bad, I mean you look good. I mean... do you want some pocky?!"

He stuck the box in her face while he looked down. He could feel his temperature rising and a tingling sensation move throughout his body. He didn't know why he felt like this.

He looked up at Blossom to see her smiling shyly. He was at a lost of words, he didn't realized how pretty she was.

Blossom reached out and took a stick from the box. "Thank you." she whispered.

There was an awkward silence after Blossom was down eating the little snack, and it was driving Brick insane. He couldn't understand why this was happening. He usually was good at talking to girls. Why was Blossom any different. He looked around the room, he desperately needed something to talk about.

He spotted something on the cover of her binder. It was one of the pink flyers that he had hanged all around the school.

"So... your thinking about trying out for the majorette position?" he asked casually.

Blossom looked at her binder and smiled.

"Oh, I was thinking about it. I'm not really sure."

"You should go for it. Band is really fun."

"Yeah, I heard..."

Even more awkward silence. Brick looked up at the clock. He wondered how much time was left until the end of class. His question was soon answered. At 2:45 the final school bell rung, and the students left the class leaving Blossom and Brick behind.

Brick grabbed his stuff and headed toward the door. He couldn't stand being alone with Blossom for more than a second. He needed some time to think this through. Luckily, Mr. T had re-scheduled band practice for today. A good march always cleared his head.

He put his books in his locker and headed for the band room. When he arrived, he found his fellow band mates just standing around and having conversations. He went over to his band locker and pulled a bull horn. He then pressed the button, and the loud alarming sound traveled throughout the band room. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Brick.

"It's time to go people. We needed to be out on the field five minutes ago. Let's go. Let's go."

The band mates sighed and moaned at his request, but they eventually got their instruments and their flag and went outside.

The marching field was a little less than a half mile away. It was a long walk, but that was the only option. They could practice on the football field, but they always seemed to have their practices at the same time that the band was having theirs. And it was almost impossible to work out any type of schedule with the head football coach. He was so stubborn and Mr. T didn't like dealing with him. Besides, the walk wasn't that bad. The drumline would play some beats while the color guard girls danced and swung their flags. It was almost like a mini parade through the the quiet suburbs of Townsville. People came out of their houses to see the local band, and the kids just loved them.

After their ten minute march, the band set their horns on the grass and rested for a while. Brick started to climb up a 15 foot podium. When he got to the top he could see the entire field. He reached down and picked up a megaphone. He turned it on and began to speak in it.

"Okay, band. Let's start from the top of the show."

He then felt a soft vibration coming from the pocket of his shorts. He took out his Blackberry and answered it.

"What up, it's Brick... oh hey Mr. T... you're going to be an hour late again... okay, sure. I'll handle it."

He hanged up his phone and put it back in his pocket. Then he picked up the megaphone to address his band.

"Okay everyone. Mr. T isn't going to be here until four, so he said just to practice are new stand tunes."

After his announcement, the band split off into groups and started learning the new songs they are going to play at the football games.

A few freshmen girls approached Brick at the podium, looking as innocent and bubbly as ever, with their pig tails and bright pink lip gloss on.

"Hey, Brick. Can you please help us? We don't know how this goes."

Brick leaned off the podium and smiled down at them. "You girls don't know how to read music."

The main girl pouted. "We know how. We just need you to play it for us."

"You girls do know that I can't spoon fed you every time you need help."

Another girl waved her clarinet in the air. "We know that! Are you going to help us or not."

Brick laughed at the young girls. It was funny how they still thought they were in middle school band. He climbed down from the podium and took out his saxophone from its case.

"Okay, what do you girls need help on?"

Blossom arrived at the field shortly after the band did. She put her bag down with some of the other girls stuff and went to find her friend. She spotted her immediately. Her blue hair really stood out in a crowd. She went over and greeted her.

"Hey, Marie."

Marie Kanker turned around and gave her a smug smile.

"So you decided to show up."

Another girl came by and looked Blossom over.

"Was this the girl you were talking about Marie?" asked Lee, Marie's older sister.

Blossom waved at the curly red-headed girl. "Hello there. I'm Blossom Utonium."

Lee put her hands on her hips. "Yeah, I know who you are. You're the principal's step daughter. So, what are you doing here?"

"She wants to try out for that majorette position." Marie said while putting a piece of gum in her mouth.

"Yeah, you guys have been on the color guard for three years. So, I was thinking that you guys could help me."

"And why should we help you?" Lee asked.

"Well, I wan to be the Head Majorette and I want to get rid of Princess. She is a horrible person and she doesn't deserve that position."

Marie and Lee looked at each other and smiled.

"You hate Princess too?" asked Marie.

"We been trying to get rid of her for months." Lee added.

The two sisters turned around and whispered back and forth to each other. They finally finished and turned around to face Blossom.

"Okay, we'll help you." Lee said.

Blossom's eyes brighten. "Really?"

"Yup. Color guard used to be fun, until Princess came and ruined it." said Lee. "All she does is boss us around and intimidate us. You know that girl Robin?"

Blossom nodded. "Yeah, the old Head Majorette."

"Well, the whole reason she quit was because of Princess. She did something to her. Now the girl's to scared to even come to school."

"And Robin wasn't the first girl." Marie added. "Every time a new Head Majorette is chosen, she finds a way to get rid of her."

Blossom was dumbfounded. She knew Princess was a bully, but she didn't know she had this much power.

Lee wrapped her arm around Blossom's shoulder. "That's where you come in. Marie is going to train with you, and when try-outs come, you make the cut, then you challenge Princess for her position, and then you kick her sorry butt."

"Just Marie? How about you?" asked Blossom.

"Marie is the best guard girl in this group. She was thinking about trying-out before you came."

Blossom felt guilty. She didn't know Marie wanted to try-out. She probably has been training for years, and now she was just going to take the opportunity away from her.

"Oh, Marie. I don't want to take the position away from you."

Marie continued to chew her gum and shrugged.

"It's okay. Besides, your the only one who can do this. Princess knows me and Lee want to get rid of her. She would never expect you."

Blossom nodded. She now understood that there was more on the line if she didn't make the cut. First, she wouldn't have the chance to be with Brick. And second, if she didn't beat Princess, she could continued to ruin people's lives.

"Okay, I'll do it."

Marie smiled. "Good, now let show you some basics."

The group of three walked over to the location where the flags were being held. Lee and Marie got a red flag, and Blossom got a blue one.

"Is there any difference between the two?" Blossom asked.

"Yours is just a beginner flag. It has no weights in it, so it's easier to spin." said Marie.

Blossom held the flag firmly in her hands. This was the first time she ever held one of these. It was heavier than it looked.

"Okay. So there's a couple of things you need to know about being a majorette. Not only do they need to know how to use the flag. They also need to know how to use the baton, and how to dance."

Blossom immediately felt bewildered. "Woah, I didn't know it took that much to be the Head Majorette."

Marie threw her flag in the air and caught it with one hand. "Yup. It's hard, but I have no doubt you can do it."

Blossom sat on the ground and took a sip from her pink water bottle.

"So how did you guys get involved in color guard?" she asked.

Marie looked over at her sister. "It's a funny story."

"Let me tell it." Lee said.

She sat on the ground next to Blossom.

"It all started in the 9th grade. We had the biggest crushes on these three boys. All their names were Edward. How cute, right? Anyway, we were obsessed with them. We wanted to be their girlfriends and all that. So, we had a plan to get closer to them. We all decided to join the cheerleading squad, to try to impress the boys."

Blossom was interested in the story. "What happened next? Did you make the team?"

"Heck no, we failed hardcore. So, next we went for guard instead and we actually made it. You should have seen Marie's face when she saw her name on the list. She was crying like a little baby."

"So what happened to your other sister?" Blossom questioned.

"Oh, May. She was the only one of us who made the squad. I still don't know how that happened." said Marie.

Marie got up and picked up her flag. "Okay, that enough talking. Now I think we should warm up."

Lee and Blossom also stood up.

"That sounds like a good idea." Lee said. "We don't want to pull our hammies, know what I'm saying."

The three girls laughed at the little joke and got started with some stretches.


	6. Competition

Jack had a very good view of Blossom form where he was standing. He wasn't usually the creeper type, but Blossom looked so good in those shorts. He just couldn't resist.

Brick noticed the weird looking guy staring over at the color guard girls. He never seen him before and he was pretty sure that he wasn't in band. He decided to go over there and get to the bottom of this.

"What are you doing here?" Brick asked the gray skinned boy.

Jack quickly turned around and acted like he wasn't doing anything.

"I'm not doing nothing." he said nervously.

Brick tilted his head to the side to see what Jack was staring at. He blushed a bright red when he found out.

What was Blossom doing here, Brick thought.

All the feelings he felt before where coming back to him, but at twice the power. He stared at Blossom for awhile before returning his focus back to Jack.

"Do you like her?" he asked, his glare intensifying.

Jack looked at Blossom again and returned to face Brick. "Pssssh, no... Do you like her?"

Brick's face was redder than ever. "Ah, of course not!"

Jack could see through Brick's little lie. "Well, if you don't like her, then stop staring at her."

Brick had caught himself staring at Blossom again, it was like he couldn't control himself. He looked down at Jack once more.

"You stop staring at her!"

Jack snickered at his comment. "Dude, its clear that you're the staring at her, not me."

Brick could feel the blood rushing through his veins. He wanted to deck this guy so badly.

"Well, you were staring at her first!"

"No I wasn't."

"Yes you were!"

"May I suggest you both stop staring at her." said Double D.

Somehow he got in between the two fired up teenagers before things got real bad. Good thing, because there was no doubt that Brick was going to wipe the floor with him.

Brick breathed heavily while he tried to control his anger. "I'm going to cool off. Double D, you're in charge."

"Why certainly Brick."

Brick stared at Jack on last time before walking off.

"Oh my, you really seemed to anger our drum major." said Double D.

"Well, that's his problem." Jack replied.

"If you don't mind me asking. What brings you to our marching field on this fine afternoon."

"I want to join band."

Double D looked over Jack for a moment, then looked down at his clipboard.

"Oh dear... well, do you know how to play an instrument?"

"Nope."

"Okay... I really don't know what to say. I guess we can start you off on something. So, what do you want to play?"

Jack look around the field at the different groups of students. He first set his eyes on a group of clarinets.

Nah, too many buttons.

Then, he looked at group of flutes.

Nah, too girly.

After eliminating all the other possible instruments in the band, he finally set his eyes on the sliver sparkly drums of the drumline. There was something about them that just called out to him.

"I want to play the drums."

"Excellent choice. Let me introduce you to our drumline captain. She is a prime example of what the drumline is about, and she would be happy to teach you."

"Whatever." Jack said totally uninterested.

They walked over to a dark skinned girl with her dark hair in a long braid. It looked like she was replacing a broken drum head.

"Why hello, Abigail. There's someone I'll like to introduce you to."

Abigail turned around and wiped some of the sweat off her forehead. She looked at Jack first and then at Double D.

"Who's this?" she asked.

"I'm Jack Spicer."

"Yes, and he's interested in being in the drumline."

"Is he any good?"

"He currently has no prior experience."

Abigail tilted her red hat and crossed her arms. "Let me get this straight. You want me to recruit a guy who has never played a drum in his life?"

"Well, ah... yes... I do see the problem, but I was thinking you can teach him." Double D said a bit nervously.

"You know dang well that Numbah Five don't like teaching chumps how to play the drums."

"Hey, I am not a chump, and for your information, I do have experience. I was the little drummer boy in my grandma's Christmas play ever since I was five." Jack explained.

Abigail glared at Jack. "That don't count, fool."

"Listen, Abigail. I know you don't like to train the new comers, but you are missing one more person in your group." said Double D.

"Fine," Abigail groaned. "but he better be worth my time."

"I'm certain he will. You two have fun now."

He walked away, leaving the two teens alone.

"C'mon, let's get this over with." said Abigail. She walked over and took a sip of water, when she turned back, she saw Jack messing with some bass drums.

"Hey, can I play one of these? He asked while reaching over for the biggest drum. Abigail came over and smacked his hand.

"No one plays Bass Five, expect for Numbah Five."

"Oh, so that's how you got your nickname."

"Yeah, something like that."

She reached over and picked a smaller drum, similar to the one he had to use for the plays.

"This is the drum you want Little Drummer Boy. A snare."

She lifted it up and put it over his head, then she adjusted it to make it fit.

"It's kinda heavy." he said.

"If you think that's heavy, you don't want to try Bass Five."

She handed him two drumsticks.

"I'm going to teach you some basics. This is the part I don't like. Now, this is how you hold drumsticks."

She did her hands, so that one drumstick looked like it was over her hand and one looked like it was underneath her hand.

"You got that?"

"Yeah, I got it. So, when are we gonna play some drums?"

"Hey, not so fast. There's a lot to learn before you start playing. Now, listen up. The main thing is relaxation..."

Jack slowly started to drift off to his dream land. He hated lectures. He rather learn by doing, and so far all Numbah Five was doing was putting him to sleep.

He looked around and saw a sophomore putting on a snare drum like his. He then started to stroke the drum at a steady beat. Jack walked over to him, it was like he was mesmerized with the sound.

"Where do you think your going, fool!" yelled Abigail.

Jack ignored her and continued studying the boy, watching the way he held the drumsticks and stroked the drum.

Jack then tried to copy what he was doing. It was hard at first, but he soon got used to the movements.

The boy looked at Jack and smiled. He took the encounter as a challenge, and he started to pick up the pace. Jack smiled back. He easily followed him without missing a beat.

The boy grunted. He decided to kick it up a notch by doing some intermediate rhythms. Jack waited for him to finish and tried his best to imitate him. It wasn't perfect but it was enough to make the boy mad.

"Golly!" he yelled. "This unbelievable."

An older teen walked over to the boy and took off the white captain's hat he was wearing.

"What's wrong this time, Lil' D?"

"Man, this chump thinks he's better than me."

"Maybe because he is." he turned to face Jack. "Let me hear you play."

Jack repeated the rhythm and looked up at the two drummers when he was done.

"Wow, he's good man. How long has he been playing, Numbah Five?"

"He just started today." she said with a smile.

"Woah, and he's that good already? You better watch out Lil' D. This guy's gonna end up challenging you and taking your spot."

"Man, shut up Jermaine! I don't want to hear that."

Jermaine looked at Jack and nodded. "Yup, he has talent alright. I can feel it."

Lil' D jumped up and snatched his hat off of Jermaine's head. "C'mon, man. You need to teach me the part to Big Ballin'"

"Okay. I guess I'll see you around man."

He and Jack exchanged a hand shake and then he went along with Lil' D. Jack looked at Abigail with a pleased expression.

"Who were they?" he asked.

"Oh, that's Jermaine and Lil' D. The other snares."

"They seem pretty cool."

"The whole drumline is cool, baby. I got to introduce you to them later. Now, let's get back to work. You might be naturally talented at this, but that doesn't mean you don't need some training."

Jack sighed and followed Abigail back to the bass drums, so they could practice some more.

Brick sat under the shade of a giant tree across the field. The breeze cooled him down while it swept through his hair. He couldn't stop thinking about that argument he had with that gray skinned boy. Whatever his name was. What he wanted to know was, why was he so defensive when he asked him if he liked Blossom. It's not like he did like her. He really didn't notice her until today, and yet he couldn't stop thinking about her. He sat there and wondered if that's how having a crush on someone felt like. He never really like someone before. So, he didn't know for sure.

He got up and walked around the field. He tried to make up a excuse why he was doing this.

I'm the drum major. I'm suppose to be supervising the band, he thought.

But in retrospect, it was only because he wanted to see Blossom.

He spotted the three still practicing basic moves. Marie was trying to show Blossom how to do a vertical toss. She held her flag out in front of her and tossed it a little over her head and caught it flawlessly. When Blossom tried to do it, she held her flag out to far and tossed it with too much power, so it just ended up hitting her on the head. She jumped around while rubbing the new bump on her forehead. Then she picked up the flag and tried it again, resulting in the same conclusion.

Brick chuckled. Blossom is so determined, he thought. Not to mention, cute. Especially when she makes that mad face every time she messes up.

He watched her drop the flag again, and Brick responded with a deep sigh. He hated to see her fail like this. He wished there was something he could do to help her. He thought about it for a moment.

"I got it!" he proclaimed. "I could go over there and wish her luck and maybe talk to her a bit."

His closed his mouth and looked around him. He wondered if talking to yourself about a plan on how to talk to a girl was normal. He shook his head, he was going to have to talk to Boomer about this.

He took on huge step toward Blossom, then it seemed he took two more steps backwards.

What is up with me? Why am I so nervous? He asked himself. It's like I never talked to a pretty girl before. I mean, Robin is pretty and I talk to her all the time.

Brick took a deep breath. He was going to do it this time for sure. He was going to talk to Blossom.

He slowly starting walking to her.

So far, so good, he thought.

He was almost there until something stopped him dead in his tracks.

After a few more lessons with Numbah Five, Jack felt like he was ready to show off his new talent. He walked over to Blossom without even thinking about it. Somehow, the drum gave him the confidence he never had before.

Jack tapped Blossom on her shoulder. "What's up Blossom."

She turned around. "Oh, hey Jack." she was surprised to see him "What are you doing here?"

"I'm in band now." he replied.

"Really?"

"Yup, watch this."

He took the drumsticks from his back pockets and started playing a military style rhythm while marching in place, he ended it by twirling the drumsticks through his fingers and placing them back in his pockets.

Blossom clapped with her eyes shining brightly.

Jack grinned. "Yup, just learned that twenty minutes ago. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Jack! That was so impressive!" she cheered. "You learned that so fast, while I'm still trying to toss a stupid flag two feet in the air."

"Are you having trouble? Maybe I can help you."

Blossom picked up her flag off the ground. "Well, it's just when I toss it. It never stay straight. It's suppose to be like Marie's. Marie show him."

Marie demonstrated the vertical toss to Jack, doing it perfectly. Jack looked at her and rubbed his chin while he thought. Then he snapped his fingers.

"I think I know your problem. Bring the flag closer to your chest."

Blossom did what she was told. "Like this?"

Jack shook his head. "No, let me show you."

He put his drum down, ran up behind her, and put his hands over hers.

"Bring it closer to you like this."

He brought her hands closer to her chest, and the temperature between them appeared to be rising.

"And when your ready, lift your arms and just let the flag roll off your fingertips."

Blossom tried it by herself this time. She put her hands the way Jack showed her and lightly toss the flag upwards. The flag stayed in the air for about a second before it landed in her hands.

"Oh my god! I did it!" she shrieked.

"It was a little wobbly, but you did it." said Marie.

Blossom turned to jack and smiled. "Thanks, Jack. You're the best."

"No problem, just trying to help."

Brick could not believe what he was seeing.

Where the heck this guy come from, and why was he helping Blossom, he thought. I mean, I could have done that.

He stormed over to Abigail, he had to find out what was going on and stop it before it got any worst.

"Numbah Five, why is that guy messing with our equipment?" he asked in a stubborn tone.

"Oh, you mean Jack? You got to meet this guy, he is a BOSS."

She waved over to Jack's direction. "Hey, LDB! Come over here for a sec!"

Brick raised his eyebrow in confusion. "LDB?"

" Little Drummer Boy."

"You already gave him a nickname?"

"Well, yeah. He deserves it."

Brick buried his head in his hands and groaned.

"Are we really going to let this guy join the band?"

"Why not, he has natural talent, with him we can finally win some drumline competitions."

Jack came up and joined the two. "What up Numbah Five?"

"The Major wants to talk you about something." she said . "I guess I'll leave you guys alone."

Abigail lifted her bass drum and left.

Jack smiled at her while she walked away. The Major? She came up with the coolest nicknames, he thought.

He waited until she was far away enough before he faced Brick with a devious grin. "Well, well, looked what the cat dragged in."

Brick scolded at the remark. "What's real reason for being here?"

"What are you talking about?" Jack said while smiling.

Brick's eyes narrowed. "You're up to something."

"No, I'm not." he replied. Then he pointed a finger at Brick. "You know what I think. You're jealous."

"What?!" Brick said, raising his voice a little higher.

"You heard me. You can't stand someone being better than you."

"Why you..."

Brick's whole right arm was trembling in rage. He had to hit something now, preferably Jack's face. But he didn't dare do it in front of Blossom. So, he used his left hand to keep his right arm under control.

"You listen here, bud." Jack poked his finger deep into Brick's chest, knowing it would make him mad. "There's a new musical genius here now. So you better watch your back or there's going to be a new drum major at Townsville High."

He turned away from Brick and went to join Abigail and the other members of the drumline.

Brick was about t say something, until he felt a drop of water landed on his nose.

Was that rain, he thought.

He looked up to find dark thunderous clouds filling up the sky. Then he rolled his eyes, no wonder Mr. T decided not to show up. The rain started to pick up and most of the band began to panic.

Brick ran over to the podium and grabbed the megaphone.

"Okay everyone calm down, it's just rain."

As soon as he said that, a bolt of lightning struck somewhere close by.

"Okay, erase that. Everyone get to the band room and make sure the equipment doesn't get to wet."

Brick leaped off the podium and ran to put away his saxophone. When he looked around him, he found that most of the band was running back to the show.

Double D ran up to him with his arms covering his head.

"Brick are you coming?" he asked.

"I got to close up shop." he reached in his pocket and took out a single key, then he threw it at Double D. "Go on without me and make sure that everyone gets their stuff out of the band room."

"Well, okay. I'll keep the door open for you."

He put the key in his pocket and ran along with he others.

Blossom, Marie and Lee grabbed their flags and bags and ran.

"Ugh! I hate the rain!" yelled Marie.

"Well, you complaining about it isn't gonna do anything." Lee yelled back. She then looked over at Blossom.

"So, who was that guy?"

"Yeah, he was cute." Marie added.

"That was Jack Spicer. He's in my AP Chemistry class."

"Well, I wouldn't mind seeing him and his beautiful eyes again."

Blossom blushed. His eyes were beautiful. Such a dark mysterious red, almost like Brick's.

The rain slowed down a bit while the three girls ran, but that didn't mean it wouldn't come back at twice the power.

"This is are chance to get back without getting soaked." said Marie. "Are we almost there? I can't tell."

"We're not even close, and we still have to walk home Marie. So shut it." Lee said.

"This sucks! I wish we had a ride."

A couple of seconds later a black sports car pulled up next to them. The window rolled down and a familiar face appeared.

"You girls need a ride?" Jack asked with a smile.

"Yes!" Marie yelled joyfully and quickly got in the back of the car. Lee quickly followed her leaving Blossom to hold their flag.

"Let me get those for you Blossom." said Jack.

He got out the car and put the flags in his trunk, while Blossom sat shotgun. Then they drove off.

"I'm sorry about the lack of space back there girls." Jack said. "I have to bring that drum back and it didn't fit in the trunk."

"It's okay." said Marie. "I slept in bedrooms with less space than this."

Jack smiled at her from the mirror, and Marie blushed.

Lee elbowed Marie on the arm. "It looks like both of your wishes came true. Huh, sis."

"Shut up."

They kept on driving and they shortly reached the school. At first it seemed like they were the only one there, but they soon saw Double D fiddling with the band door.

"I guess I'm not the only smart person who brought their car." said Jack.

Double D finally opened the door and the three girls went inside to change, and Jack decided to help put away some of the band equipment. When he came back out, he saw Numbah Five driving down the road in a pickup truck filled with all the percussion and drumline instruments. Along with a couple of students who were trying to get a free ride.

"Hey, Numbah Five. What took you so long?"

"I would have been here sooner if all these lazy people didn't hitch a ride!"

"Yo, sorry Numbah Five." Lil' D yelled.

"Yeah, yeah." she said, then she faced Brick. "So, do you have that drum LDB?"

"Do I have to give it back?" he whined.

"I'm sorry, but Mr. T never lets us take the drums home. They belong to the school."

"Aww, man." he said while leaning on his car.

"But hey, you can probably buy yourself one. With that nice car you must be loaded."

"Thanks, I'll think about it."

He went in his car and gave the drum to Abigail, then she brought it in the band room along with the other stuff.

A few minutes later, everyone came and left and only Jack, the girls, and Double D remained.

"Aren't you gonna go home?" Jack asked Double D.

"I have to wait for Brick."

Ugh, Brick. He was so tried of hearing that name.

"I can wait for him for you."

"You would do that?"

"Anything for my pal Brick."

"Well, okay. Thanks a lot."

Double D waved goodbye and went to his car. Jack waited until he drove off before he wrote a little message on the window of the band door. He smiled at his work, and then he went back to his car where the girls were waiting for him.

"What was that about?" Blossom asked.

"Oh, I was just talking to Double D for a sec."

He put the key in the ignition, started the car and drove off.

Jack drove down the road past the marching field while Blossom looked woefully out the window. She didn't see Brick yet and she was worried about him.

"Hey, isn't that Brick?" Lee asked.

Blossom's eyes widen. "Where!" she yelled.

She looked out of Jack's window and saw Brick walking in the rain.

"Shouldn't we stop for him?"

"Ew, no. He's soaked and I'm pretty sure Jack doesn't want his interior ruined." said Marie.

"And besides," Jack added. "he has his own key. So, he'll be fine."

Blossom nodded and Jack continued driving down the road, while Brick was left walking in the pouring rain.


	7. Intervention

Brick was the only one left on the field, as the drum major he had the all so important job of cleaning up and locking up the marching field after each practice. He usually had people helping him, but they decided that being dry was their first priority this time around. He went around front and locked the gates, then he started his walk to the school.

There's not any reason to run back. I'm already soaked, thought Brick.

When he arrived at the school, he discovered the parking lot completely deserted. He looked around and couldn't find Double D anywhere.

I could have sworn I told him to wait for me, Brick thought.

He ran up to the door, hoping that someone was waiting inside. He looked and found nothing but darkness.

What the heck is going on here? He asked himself.

He took another look at the door and stumbled upon something written on the fogged up glass. Once he was done reading, he threw his saxophone case to the ground and cursed as loud as he could. He caught his breath for a moment, before he aggressively punched the brick wall.

The note read: I hope you have a nice walk home.

Brick took another glance at the note before punching the wall again, this time grinding his fist deeper into the concrete. It wasn't those eight words that made him berserk. It was the person who wrote them who really made him crazy. The note was signed with the initials, JS. And Brick knew it was no other than Jack Spicer.

He kept on punching the wall until the skin on his hand was torn off and bloody. When he was finally done, he let his arm hang motionless against his side. He could no longer sense any feeling in his right hand, and for some weird reason, he was satisfied with that. He picked up his now damaged saxophone case with his working hand and began his two mile journey home.

An hour later, a disheveled Brick entered the back door of a small basement apartment. The blond boy heard his brother come in and ran up to greet him, while the dark-haired one stayed on the couch eating his ramen noddles.

Boomer was shocked to see his other brother. He was soaking wet and his whole right arm was dripping blood all over the white carpet that he just cleaned last week.

"Oh my god, what happened to you!?"

Butch looked over at the two from the couch.

"Woah, it looks like you been through a hurricane." he said with a smile.

"Shut up." Brick responded. He wasn't in the mood for his brother's games today. He looked back at Boomer.

"I had to walk home."

"What happened to the car?"

"Don't tell me someone stole it!" Butch yelled from across the room. He leaped off the couch and ran to Brick. "Let me guess, some guys whooped your ass and stole the car."

Brick glared at Butch. He always came up with these stupid conclusions.

"No you idiot. Some jerk just locked me out the band room, so I couldn't get my keys."

"Yeah, that better be the reason."

"But what about your hand?" asked Boomer.

The puddle on the floor was now a deep red. "Oh... I just got mad..."

Butch went back to the couch and continued eating his noodles.

"I rather it be the wall than somebody's face. Your punches are a killer."

Brick and Boomer looked at their brother, he always had to bring up that certain topic. Boomer bent over to get a closer look at Brick's hand. He could have sworn he seen some bone sticking out.

"Well, I'm calling Ms. Whales. Your hand looks broken."

"No, duh you moron!" Butch yelled.

Boomer rolled his eyes and grabbed the phone off the kitchen counter. He then called the apartment above them. In the matter of seconds, there was a knock on the door leading upstairs. Boomer went to the door and opened it. A thick dark skinned woman with her hair up in a bun, stared at the blond teenager.

"What do yall want now?" she asked, her voice full of sassy attitude.

She pushed the boy away and went down the stairs.

"Oh sweet baby Jesus!" she gasped. "What happened to my little baby!"

Brick blushed a bright red. "It's okay Ms. Whales. I'm-"

"I don't want to hear that Ms. Whales mess. As long as I been taking care of you three, call me Bubby. Now, go on to that room and change out of those wet clothes. I'm gonna have to drive you to the hospital."

"Bubby? What's going on down there?" asked a young boy.

"Nothing Flapjack, just stay upstairs sweetie."

"Okay!" he replied joyfully.

"I don't want Flapjack to see all this blood. The precious angel won't be able to take it. Butch, go up and watch him while me and Boomer take Brick to the hospital."

"How come I have to watch the twerp?" Butch groaned. "Where's that Knuckles guy at?"

"If you don't get up those stairs, I swear to gawd I'm gonna slap you so hard upside the head they ain't gonna have a quarterback until next week."

"Okay okay." Butch said frantically. He quickly got up and ran to the door, making sure he avoided Bubby's glare. No matter how bad he thought he was, he couldn't stand up to their foster parent.

Bubby waited until she heard the door shut, before turning her attention back to the two remaining brothers.

"I ain't done with you two yet. Now, get your butts in the car, yall got some explaining to do."

The two gulped and without saying another word, they went outside and got in Bubby's old station wagon. Bubby followed and got in the driver's seat. She was about to put the key into the ignition, but then she looked over to the empty parking space besides them.

"Brick baby... where's your car?" she asked nicely.

Brick looked out the window. He knew this question was going to come up.

"I left it at school." he responded with a nervous tone in his voice.

"Why in the world did you leave it at school for?" she yelled while backing out of the driveway.

Brick was too afraid to answer her. It wasn't a good idea to make Bubby angry while she was driving. You probably heard of road rage before, well multiply that by 11 while Bubby was furious, and there's a good chance that someone was going to get seriously injured.

Brick continued to look out the window. They were now driving on the interstate and Bubby was cruising at a steady 70 miles per hour, the maximum speed limit. He sighed, he knew she could easily hit 95 or more if he told her the truth.

"Well, answer me boy." she yelled. "Tell me what happened to you."

Brick shook his head. "It's a long story Bubby."

"A long story! What do you mean a long story. You know you can tell me anything, whatcha trying to hide."

"I'm not hiding anything, I swear!" he replied anxiously.

There was a long awkward silence in the moving vehicle and the two boys could feel the tension rising. Brick cautiously looked over to the older woman. She was gripping the steering wheel with a brutal force and she looked like she was going to bust a vein. Brick felt the car slowly accelerating and he was immediately terrified for his life. Apparently, Boomer felt the same way, so he tried to calm her down by touching her on the shoulder.

"It's alright Bubby" he said with a timid smile.

Bubby felt more at ease when he said that. Boomer always had that effect on her. It was mostly because he reminded her so much of her little Flapjack. The blond hair and blue eyes were just so similar.

"I'm sorry babies." she looked over at Brick with a compassionate expression. "I'm just so worried about yall. I been keeping you out of trouble ever since you were nine years old and now I feel like your slipping away from me."

"No way, Bubby!" Boomer cried from the backseat "We're good kids, that's the way you raised us. Your honesty and determination drove all the badness out of us."

"Don't forget the belt." Brick added.

Bubby let out a big hardy laugh and the two brothers followed her with laughs of their own. As Brick's laughter was wearing off, he notice that they were slowly drifting off the side of the road. Brick quickly reacted by reaching over to the steering wheel and returning them back to safety. Bubby stared at the terrified boys with a puzzled expression.

"Why did you do that for?"

"We almost drove off the road!" Brick yelled.

Bubby glared at the red-head before flicking him in the ear.

"Don't tell me how to drive boy. I know how to drive. I been driving before you were born."

Brick rolled his eyes and started rubbing his ear, while Boomer laughed at him.

He we go again, he thought.

An hour and a half later, Brick was at the hospital's cafeteria sporting a brand new hand cast. When they arrived at the ER, there was less people than they expected. So, they got in and out relatively quick. Now, the boys were waiting for Bubby while she picked up some food.

"So how do you like your cast." asked Boomer.

Brick looked down at the white plaster covering his right hand.

"It's alright I guess. I probably won't be able to play saxophone for a while."

"Thank goodness, we can finally have some peace and quiet.

Brick playfully pushed his brother. "Shut up man."

He turned away from Boomer and started fiddling with his hat.

"Boomer, can I ask you something."

"What is it dude?"

"Well... do you like Bubbles?"

Boomer was surprised with the question.

"Well of course I like Bubbles. She's my girlfriend."

"How did you feel when you first knew you liked her?"

He felt so awkward asking his brother these questions. But he was the only person he knew who had the experience with this kind of thing.

"Oh, well... when I first meet her, it was in the 9th grade. We were both lost, so we helped each other out. I can remember feeling warm and tingly inside."

"Yeah, that's it. What else did you feel?"

"I remember at first, I couldn't even talk to her. Wait... why are you asking me this?"

Brick blushed. "Oh, there's no reason. I just wanted to know."

Boomer smiled. "I know what it is... you like someone."

"What? Psshh. No, I don't like someone."

"It's okay dude. You don't have to tell me who, just tell me how you feel."

"Well, I just wanted to know if it was normal to think about a certain girl for the entire school day."

"No, actually your below average right now. I thought about Bubbles all day and night."

"Are you serious? You don't think I'm gonna be like that?"

"It depends how much you like the girl."

Brick sighed and reached over to take a sip of his soda. He never knew how stressful it was to like a girl. He wondered if liking Blossom was worth it, but then he thought about her dazzling pink eyes and her soft subtle lips, and it made her worth his wild again.

"So have you had any dirty dreams about her yet?"

Brick choked on his drink and spit most of it on the floor. He quickly turned to face his brother.

"What?! Who thinks about that kinda stuff!"

"Umm... most teenage boys."

Brick got some napkins and started to clean the spill of his shirt. He couldn't possibly think about Blossom in that sort of way. To him, she was like a fragile angel. An angel as pure as the first snow fall, an angel who shouldn't be exposed to the dirty outside world.

"Listen dude, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable." said Boomer.

"It's okay man."

The two brothers sat their in silence until they saw Bubby coming toward them with bags full of food.

"Hey, boys. I'm ready to go." she said.

"Dang, Bubby. I thought you said, you were going to get some food. It looks like you robbed the whole cafeteria." said Boomer.

"Boy please. You know when there's free food involved, I got to take advantage of that."

"But the food here isn't free." said Brick.

"I told them that I was a foster parent and they gave it to me for free."

Brick crossed his arms and smiled at her. "Bubby..."

"Okay, okay. I might have told them that I have eight mentally retarded children and the government wasn't giving me enough money food."

"Well, that explains it."

"Oh, Bubby. You're suppose to be an example. What if Flapjack found out that you lied." said Boomer.

"I ain't lying. I'm just giving myself a successful advantage. Now, come on. I have to go get Brick's medicine from the pharmacy and plus you have school tomorrow."

The two boys nodded their heads in agreement and began to follow their guardian to the car. And that was the end of their Monday night adventure.


	8. Collaboration

The next morning, Princess Morebucks arrived at Townville High in her private limo. Her chauffeur got out of the vehicle and went around to open the door for her.

"I hope you have a wonderful day at school ."

Princess turned and gave her chauffeur a disgusted look.

"I don't pay you to talk to me."

The chauffeur just looked at her and smiled. He was used to her snobbish attitude by now.

Princess got out of the limo with her bag and her books. Then she walked to the main door and stood there. Her lacky was suppose to be here to take her stuff.

"You could never find good help these days." she uttered.

She crossed her arms and thought about what she just said. Maybe Mindy was more than just the 'help'. She was the only person in the school who didn't hate her guts. She might even say that Mindy was her... friend. Princess wrinkled her nose in disgust, even the idea of being nice to someone made her stomach turned. But she had to face the facts, Mindy has always been by her side, even through all the crap she pulled. After thinking this through, she decided that for now on, she was going to be a little nicer to Mindy. Just a little, not a whole lot... that could kill her.

A second later, Mindy came running toward Princess looking restless and disheveled. She stopped in front of her and began panting.

"I'm... sorry... I'm late... Princess."

Princess had to resist the urge to yell at the girl like she always did. It was probably the hardest thing she ever had to do in her life.

"It's okay... Mindy." she uttered quietly.

Mindy just stood there completely shocked. She had never heard Princess use her real name before.

"Are you okay Princess?"

"Well duh, I'm perfectly fine. Now, carry my stuff."

Yup, still the same old Princess, she thought.

But she was still stuck on the fact that Princess didn't call her lacky. She smiled. Maybe she was finally getting through to the red-headed spoiled brat.

"Earth to Mindy," yelled Princess. "Stop daydreaming and hold my stuff, my arms are getting tired."

"Oh, I'm sorry Princess."

She took the three textbooks and purse away from Princess, and they continued to walk inside the school building. They walked down the hall until they arrived at Princess' solid gold, diamond incrusted locker, complete with a hi-tech security system.

"Locker, open." she commanded.

The locker recognized her voice and opened for her. She took her books back from Mindy and put them in.

"So, re-cap what happened yesterday while I was gone."

"Oh, yeah." said Mindy. She reached in her bag and took out her tablet. "Let's see... they announced the majorette try-outs."

"Yeah, I know about that already. What's next?"

"Well, our informants state that they saw Blossom Utonium at the marching field yesterday afternoon."

Princess raised her eyebrow in confusion. "What? Why was she there for?"

"I think she wants to try-out."

"Yeah right, like she ever has a chance. Next."

"Jack Spicer joined the drumline."

"That gray-skinned loser? They just let anyone in the band now-a-days. Next."

"Well, it looks like Brick Whales broke his hand."

"How? What happened to him?"

"Our informants state that they saw Jack Spicer locking Brick out the band room after practice, Brick got mad and punched the wall until his hand was broken."

Princess' eyes glowed and an evil grin appeared across her face.

"Ohhh, I didn't know the little freak had it in him. So scandalous. I can use him. Where is he now?"

Mindy looked down at her tablet. "He should be at his locker. It's right down the hall."

Princess looked in her locker mirror one more time before she closed it, then she turned to Mindy.

"C'mon, we got some recruiting to do."

Jack Spicer was neck deep inside his locker. He was fixing the music system he installed a week ago, and he was so focused, that he didn't notice the two girls standing right beside him.

"Hey, Jack."

Jack hit his head against his locker, as soon as he heard the voice. He wasn't used to girls talking to him this early in the morning. Well, he wasn't used to girls talking to him period. He turned to face the two girls.

"What's up ladies."

"We know what you did yesterday."

"Oh, really?"

"Yup, we know that you locked Brick out the band room and made him break his hand." Princess replied.

"And what if I did? You gonna rat me out?"

"No, I want to help."

Princess seductively put her hand on Jack's shoulder. Jack gave Princess a disturbed look and cautiously removed her hand from his body.

"Umm, that's nice and all, but I don't need your help."

Princess grinned. "Oh, yes you do. Mindy, pull up his file."

Jack stood there confused, while Mindy searched her tablet for his name.

"Oh, here it is. Jack Spicer, 17 years old; 11th grade; inventor; currently has a crush on Blossom Utonium."

"How do you know all that stuff!" Jack exclaimed.

"I have people. So anyway, I can help you with your problem."

"I don't have a problem."

"Yeah you do. It's starts with a B, ends with a K."

Jack snorted when he found out who she was talking about.

"He's not my problem, and he'll never will be. I can get Blossom to fall for me way faster than he ever could."

"Oh, yeah? Then go ahead, she's right over there."

Princess pointed over at Blossom. She was talking to Marie and Lee, and it was most likely about color guard.

Jack's throat immediately went dry. He didn't know what came over him, he could talk to her yesterday without a problem, but now he couldn't.

"Well, go ahead and talk to her." Princess said while pushing him toward his crush.

Jack was sent flying across the hallway until he was inches away from her face. Blossom turned around and smiled at the teen's florid complexion.

"Hello, Jack."

Jack opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a gasp of air.

"So, I just wanted to thank you for helping me yesterday. That was real sweet of you."

"N-no problem..." he squeaked.

Blossom giggled, then Marie came over and put her hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Yeah, you should come over and help us today during practice."

Jack smiled. He didn't mind Marie touching him, she was pretty. But Princess on the other hand, well she was a dirty nasty hoe and he didn't know where her hands been.

"We don't have practice today." said Lee.

"Oh, shoot..." Marie said while putting a piece of gum in her mouth. "So, when do we have practice?"

"Not until Thursday."

"What?! It's only Tuesday, we need to get some more practice in with Blossom."

"You guys can come over my house. We have a big backyard." Blossom suggested.

Marie nodded. "Yeah, that could work."

Lee looked over at the clock. "The bell's gonna ring soon, we should get to class. We can talk about this later."

"Okay." Marie waved to Blossom. "See you later Blossom. Meet us in the band room after school."

"Okay, see ya." Blossom then turned to Jack. "It was nice talking to you Jack. I guess I'll see you in AP chemistry."

"Y-yeah..." he stuttered.

"Bye, Jack."

"Bye..."

She flipped her hair back and gracefully walked away, bringing her ravishing beauty with her.

Jack stood there in amazement. He never been so nervous before in his life. Forget about butterflies flying around in his stomach, it was more like the butter were drilling holes and wanted to rip his insides out.

Princess sneaked up behind Jack and grabbed him around the waist, then she started to chuckle.

"That was really pathetic Jackie. She will never like a guy like you."

"Why? I mean, what kind of guys does she like?" he asked.

"Well, you know... the smart laid-back type, like Brick."

"Brick's the freaking' drum major, no one really ever associates that with being cool."

"Yeah, but he's also on the track team, and besides Brick makes being the drum major look sexy. If I had it my way, I would have eaten him up by now."

Jack was mildly disturbed by that comment, he then looked down and realized that Princess was still holding on to him. He tried to break free, but Princess just tighten her grip.

"You know.. you have the makings of a smart laid-back type. You wear all black, you take three AP classes"

"I'm actually taking four AP classes."

"Yeah, whatever..."

She stood her tippy toes and began to whisper into Jack's ear.

"I just loved the way you treated Brick. That was so... bad."

Princess' warm tantalizing breath sent shivers racing down his spine. He closed his eyes and held his breath while Princess continued to run her hand down his abdomen. When she finally reached his pelvic area, Jack let out a sharp girly shriek. Instantly, the students of the hallway turned around to investigate the unusual sound. Jack quickly pushed Princess away before anyone could get a good look at them.

"Can you stay off my dick." he whispered loudly.

"You know you like it."

He faced away from her and remained quiet.

"Well, you can have all of that and more if you join team Princess. Come talk to me at practice on Thursday if you're interested. Which I know you are."

She snapped her fingers and she and Mindy went to their classes leaving Jack behind.

"What are you gonna do with him anyway." Mindy asked.

"I don't know yet, the master plan is still in the works. But I do know that it's gonna involve getting revenge on Brick for spreading that rumor about me."

"So... do you like Jack?"

"Hell no, I just did all that stuff so he'll join us."

The two girls turned the corner and they were well on their way to their first period class. They were both silent, but that was until Princess began to speak.

"Well, now that I think about it. Jack's kinda cute, I mean he's still a freak, but that can be changed." Then she turned and smiled at Mindy. "And plus... he has a pretty big package ."

Mindy rolled her eyes and sighed, then the two walked in their biology class.


	9. Affection

A couple of hours have passed, and now Blossom was slowly walking to her 7th period class. She was aching terribly and could barely move her muscles. She entered the classroom and plopped down on a decorative Japanese pillow. The impact sent waves of pain throughout her body and she groaned in response.

She couldn't count the times she dropped that stupid flag on the ground, and she definitely couldn't count the times the butt of the flag smacked her in the face. She sighed, color guard was harder than she ever could have imagined. She didn't know if she could go through with it. She thought about quitting it all together. She knew that Marie and Lee would be disappointed, but she couldn't possibly learn all those techniques by next Friday.

"Okay class, let us settle down." said Yorishima. "Today, we are going to work on our worksheets from yestada and then you are going to separate into two and review for test on Friday."

The class started to giggle.

"You did again Ms. Yorishima." someone yelled out.

"What? What I do?" she asked.

"It's pronounced yesterday, not yes-ta-da." someone else added.

Ms. Yorishima pouted and placed her hands on her hips.

"How come you always make fun of me? You know I do not know this language."

"Didn't you go to school for English?"

Ms. Yorishima slapped a ruler against her desk.

"That's it. You guys are going to get it. Now, take out your work or I'll go Super Saiyan on you."

A few minutes later, the students put away their work and turned to their usual partners to study for the test. Ms. Yorishima once again slapped a ruler against her desk, and the class looked at her confused.

"Not so fast, since you want to play games, I can play games too. I will be assigning you your partners."

Horrified expressions spread across the faces of the students, it was like their worst nightmare came true.

"Oh, please Ms. Yorishima don't do this to us." someone pleaded.

"Well, too bad. You will be working with the person directly across from you."

"Aww man, the whole reason I sat here was to get away from that person."

"I am sorry, but that is not my problem. Now, go change seats and work with each other."

The class moaned and groaned while they moved across the room. Blossom was about to move, until a figure appeared in front of her.

"Umm... hey, Blossom."

Blossom blushed. "Hi, Brick."

Brick sat down next to Blossom and took out his textbook.

"Okay, I guess we should get started." he said without looking at her.

"Yeah... so this chapter is about families and relationships, right?"

Brick nodded. "Yup. So I was thinking that maybe I could tell the word in Japanese and then you could translate it into English."

"Okay."

Brick opened his textbook and looked down at a page.

"What is ryoshin"

Brick waited for Blossom's answer, but she didn't respond.

"Umm... Blossom?"

Blossom snapped out of her dream land and looked down.

"I'm sorry, but I was just curious about your hand."

Brick glanced down at his cast. "Oh, it's nothing."

"Nothing?!" Blossom exclaimed. She reached over and grabbed his hand. "You must have broken at at least seven bones."

"Yeah... how did you know?"

"I can tell by the way they wrapped the cast." She got her finger and began to trace along Brick's arm and hand. "They started mid radius and ended around the middle phalanx, indicating that you must have broken some bones in your carpal area and in your fingers."

"Wow, you sure know a lot about bones."

"Yeah, I was always interested in the human body. I want to go to medical school and become a doctor."

"I'm pretty sure that you'll be the best doctor ever."

"Thank you, that's nice of you to say."

"No problem..."

Blossom looked down to see that she was still holding Brick's hand. Brick noticed too, then they slowly looked into each other's eyes.

Oh my god! What am I doing, thought Blossom. I can't believe I just reached over and grabbed Brick's hand. He probably thinks I'm a weirdo or something.

"It's okay Blossom. I don't mind."

She quickly looked down and buried her face into her hands.

"Oh, this is so embarrassing! You can read me like an open book."

"Well, yeah... but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It just means you're more in tune with your emotions."

Blossom looked up at Brick ans smiled and then she noticed something.

"There's no signatures on your cast..."

Brick looked down at his cast again.

"Well, the thing is... I kinda wanted you to be the first to sign it."

She blinked in amazement.

"You waited the whole day just so I can be the first to sign it?"

"Well, yeah... is that okay?"

"Of course! It's just... I don't know what to say."

He reached down in his pocket and took out a permanent marker.

"How about yes."

Blossom gently took the marker form his hand and began her masterpiece.

"Hey, no peeking." she said playfully.

Brick quickly turned his head to the side and blushed.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm just going to warn you before hand that I'm not as amazing at drawing like Bubbles is. So don't laugh."

Like I would ever do that, thought Brick.

A couple of seconds later, Blossom was finished. "Okay, you can take a look now."

Brick looked down to see a oddly shaped object placed in the middle of his cast. He tilted his head to the side and a confused expression appeared on his face.

"Is that a potato chip?"

Blossom looked down at her drawing and pouted. "It's suppose to be a cherry blossom."

Brick covered his face and started to laugh. He tried not to, but he couldn't help himself.

"Hey!" Blossom whined. "I told you not to laugh!"

"I'm sorry, but..." he paused for a second to continue laughing "I just don't see it."

"You just need to look at it from my perspective." She grabbed his hand and faced toward him. "Look! Do you see it now?"

"Well, I guess if you squint your eyes until they're barley open you can see it."

Blossom cover her mouth to try to hide her laughter. "You're so mean to me, I bet you can't do better."

"You're on." he replied with a smile.

He grabbed the marker and began drawing the exact same thing on her hand. When he was finished, Blossom took at look at it for herself.

"Are you kidding me? It's looks exactly like mines!"

"Well, that's because I'm at a disadvantage. If I was able to draw with my right hand, it would be so better than yours."

"Yeah rig-"

Ms. Yorishima slapped a ruler against her desk.(again)

"Hey you two love birds. Do not act like I do not see you. Get back to work."

Blossom and Brick looked at each other and began to giggle quietly.

"Okay, we should get back to reviewing." said Blossom.

They grabbed their books and opened them to the page they were suppose to be on. An awkward silence passed until Brick finally said something.

"With all joking aside, I really do like it. It's very creative."

"Thank you. I'm glad you think so."

She closed her book and placed it on her lap.

"I think it's time to really test our knowledge."

"What do you have in mind?"

"We should have a conversation together using our vocabulary."

"That's a good idea. You start."

"Okay, I'll try to go slow."

She cleared her throat and began to speak, but something inside her made her hesitate. Even though they were just acting, she felt like the question she was going to ask was a very personal one, and she was afraid of the answer that she was going to receive.

"Boku no koto suki?" she asked quietly.

Brick swelled up with emotion as soon as he heard the question. He also knew that they were just pretending, but there was something in her voice that made it sound so sincere. The phase loosely translated to "Do you care about me?", and Brick was trying his hardest not to overreact to it. But his emotions were stronger that he expected and he had no choice but to let them pour out of him.

"Watashi ga okonau mochiron, anata ga utsukushiku, sumāto, soshite sainōda. Watashi wa anata ni tsuite no subete no jikan o kangaeru to watashi wa jibun jishin o seigyo suru koto wa dekimasen. Anata wa, watashi ga mainichi no tanoshimini shite hitodesu. Anata wa... Anata wa watashi o shiawaseni suru."

Brick panted heavily after he was done unleashing his triade of love to Blossom, and Blossom just sat there completely astounded. Not knowing what to do or say, she quickly grabbed her book and flipped through the pages. Then she slowly glanced back at Brick.

"Umm.. I don't think that's in our book."

Brick stared at her, unable to speak. All the blood that was rushing to his face, made it redder that his lucky baseball cap he had on, and he never felt the urge of wanting to kill himself until this very moment. He just wanted this embarrassing ordeal to be over.

A moment later, he wish came true and the bell rang ending the school day. Blossom faced away to put her stuff away, and when she turned back, Brick was already gone.

Brick continued to run down the hallway, until he reached the safe vicinity of the band room. He slammed himself aganist a row of lockers and slid to the floor, looking angry and confused.

Mr. T heard the racket and went out of his office to check it out. He was kinda surprised to see Brick there.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

Brick took his head out of his arms and looked up at him.

"It's nothing..." he sighed.

"That's just fantastic... so since you're here, I was wondering if you could clean out the practice rooms, some freshmen left their food in there and I'm pretty sure there's a dead animal in there."

"Sure..."

"Good, now when your done with that you can sweep this nasty floor."

Blossom took her time walking to her locker today. A lot has happened in the last ten minutes ans she needed time to think it through. She arrived at her locker and started to put her books in.

She was still wondering about what Brick said. He was speaking so fast that she didn't catch anything. Well, there was one word that stuck out to her. Utsukushi, which meant beautiful. She closed her locker and began to drift back into her dreamland.

Did Brick tell me I was beautiful, she asked herself.

Images of her and Brick emerged in her head, and then she remembered it clearly. She remembered how his eyes burned with intense compassion while he spoke his heart-felt words.

"Yes," she concluded. "I'm pretty sure he did! He thinks I'm beautiful!"

"You talking to yourself again Blossom?"

She turned around to find Marie and Lee standing besides her.

"Hey, girls."

"Remember when you sent me that text earlier?" Marie asked. "What was it that you wanted to talk about?"

Blossom faced away from the two and played with her fingers.

She wanted to tell Marie that she was quitting the whole color guard thing. She wanted to tell her that she didn't have the patient for it anymore. That she didn't have the strength or the willpower to carry on. But that was before. In the last fifth-teen minutes, she realized that she had strength and willpower right in front of her all along. It was a special force that was kind, loyal, and would never leave her behind. And that special force was no other than Brick. She couldn't believe that she had forgotten the whole reason that she wanted to be the Head Majorette in the first place. For the chance to be with the person she cared about, the person she cared about, the person who thought she was beautiful.

"Well," Marie said. "What was it?"

Blossom smiled at her and shook her head.

"It was nothing..."

"Well, okay then, let's go to the band room and get our equipment, then we can go to your house."

"Okay."

Blossom grabbed her bag and then the three went on their way.

Brick eventually picked himself off the floor. He sighed and went to the supply closet to get a broom and a couple of trash bags. He might as well get started on the cleaning. He had nothing else better to do. When he came back out, he saw Marie, Lee, and Blossom over by Mr. T's office. He quickly dropped the stuff from his hands and ninja rolled behind a set of tympani drums before Blossom could spot him.

Blossom heard the sound and turned around to investigate. "Did you guys hear that?"

"It's probably the rats, this school's crawling with them."

"Rats?!"

"It's not the rats, Lee. It's the giant cockroaches." Marie added.

"Oh my god, ew! I hate roaches!"

"Join the club."

Marie banged aggressively on Mr. T's door.

"I know this guy sees, we're standing right here!"

Mr. T looked up from his newspaper, rolled his eyes and got up to answer the door.

"What do you want?"

"We want to borrow some flags, so give us the key to the guard room." said Marie.

"Fine." He reached in his pocket and threw Marie the key. "But if you lose them, you'll have to pay for them."

"Yeah, yeah, we know."

The three girls got their flags and left the band room while Brick stayed behind the drums, spying on them like a creeper. When he was sure they were gone, he gave a huge sigh of relief.

That was a close one, he thought.

He sat on the floor and buried his head in his arms again.

I was doing so good.

The was the longest conversation he ever had with Blossom. He couldn't believe that actually had the courage to go up and talk to her. He had to admit, it was a little awkward at first, but then she started it by talking about his cast (which reminded him; he had to break his bones more often). Then they really hit it off after that. He never realized that besides from being smart, Blossom was also funny, quirky, and even a bit weird. But he didn't mind, that just made him admire her even more.

But too bad he could never show his face around her anymore.

Brick got up from the floor, went the nearest wall and started repeatedly banging his head against it.

He couldn't believe that he said all of that stuff to Blossom. He knew it wasn't it wasn't in English, and she probably didn't understand him, but it was still embarrassing.

He replayed the scene over and over his head. He started at the part when Blossom asked the sudden question: Do you care about me?

He remembered it so clearly. How he was literary chocking on the tidal wave of emotions trying to come out of him, and how eventually the tidal waves broke down the levee of reasoning and common sense and flooded Blossom with his words.

He responded in Japanese, of course, but his translated response went a little something like this.

Of course I do, you are beautiful, smart, and talented. I think about you all the time and I can't control myself. You are the person I look forward to seeing everyday. You... you make me so happy...

Ugh, I can't believe I said that! That must be like the corniest thing ever spoken, he thought.

He continued to strike his head against the wall, until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"What are you trying to do, split your head open?"

"Oh, Mr. T... I... I"

"It's okay. You don't have to explain your teenage problems to me. I just don't want you hurting yourself again."

"You know about that?"

"The whole school knows about that. So, are you going to clean or what, I got to be somewhere at 3:30."

Brick reached over and picked up the broom off the floor.

"I'm going. I'm going."


	10. Chapter 10

It was Thursday afternoon and there was ten more minutes until the end of the school day. The students in the 9th grade algebra class were being extremely loud and obnoxious. Well, that is to be expected, they are freshmen after all. Everything appeared to be normal, that was until you found out that they were three grown 11th graders stuck in that class.

The teacher came up from his desk and cleared his throat.

"Okay class, I will now pass back your tests from last week."

He walked around the room and gave each student a folded up piece of paper.

Bubbles quickly reached over and picked up her test, as soon as it arrived on her desk. She slowly opened it, hoping for a good grade. She took one look at her test and her expression immediately changed from enthusiastic to despair.

"What did you make?" asked Boomer, who was sitting beside her.

"A 67!" she cried while putting her head on the desk. "I can't believe I failed again."

"Well look on the bright side. I made a 72."

Bubbles pushed her boyfriend to the side.

"How the heck is that suppose to make me feel better, I don't care what you made."

Boomer laughed. "Your just jealous that I passed and you didn't"

Bubbles turned around and crossed her arms. "I'm not talking to you."

"Oh, c'mon Bubbles. I was just joking."

She put her hand in his face and continued to remain silent. Boomer moved his chair closer to her, wrapped his arms around her neck, and kissed her on the cheek.

"Bubbles, I'm really sorry okay."

"It's gonna take more than your sweet kisses to make me feel better."

"Well, um..." he looked around the room for something that would make Bubbles a little bit happier.

"Well, there's no way you made lower than him." he pointed a boy with bright red hair. "He sleeps in class everyday and he never takes notes. And plus, he finishes his tests in like five seconds. There's no way he knows all the answers, he probably just puts idk or something."

Bubbles turned around and looked over the boy herself.

"Maybe you're right." she said. "Let's go see."

Bubbles reached over and tapped the sleeping boy on the shoulder.

"Um, excuse me, the teacher just passed back our tests."

The boy slowly rose from his slumber, he then yawned and rubbed his eyes. He stared at the paper on his desk for a while, before finally picking it up. He looked at it for a second, then he crumbled it into a ball and threw it on the floor.

"Woah, he must have really made a bad grade." whispered Boomer.

"Be quiet." she whispered back while hitting him.

"What did you make?" Bubbles asked.

The boy turned around and stared at Bubbles with a bored uninterested expression.

"A 105."

"What?!" Boomer yelled. "How the hell did you make that?!"

"Well, I got all the answers right, obviously, plus the bonus."

"A bonus? I didn't even know there was a bonus!" Bubbles said.

"There wasn't. I made my own."

"Oh... my... god!" Bubbles and Boomer said in unison. They both leaned over the desk and went to the boy's face.

"You must be some kind of genius!" said Boomer.

"Yeah, like some kind of mathematician. Why are you in this class?" Bubbles asked.

"I have too."the boy replied. "I failed this class 9th grade year."

"How is that possible?"

"Easy, I skipped."

"Why would you do that?" Boomer asked.

"Because this class is too fucking easy, so I thought I shouldn't have to show up."

"Wow... so rebellious. So what's your name." Bubbles asked.

"It's Jack. Jack Spicer."

"Oh, hi Jack! I'm Bubbles Utonium!"

"Wait, Utonium... are you Blossom's sister?"

"Yes, yes I am. Do you know her?"

"Yeah, can you tell her that I said hi."

"Okay, I will. Oh yeah, I forgot. This is my boyfriend Boomer Whales. You know, the all-star receiver of the football team."

Boomer put his hands behind his head and smiled. "Alive and in the flesh."

"Whales... you mean like Brick's brother?"

"Um... yeah."

A look of disgust appeared on his face.

"Yeah, I gotta go. I feel sick all the sudden."

He stood up, grabbed his stuff, and walked out the classroom.

"Bye, Jack!" Bubbles yelled.

Boomer looked over to his girlfriend; puzzled.

"Did he just leave?"

"Well, yeah. He did say he was sick."

The bell rang shortly after and the couple left the classroom and headed toward the gymnasium.

"There's something about that guy I don't like." Boomer said.

"What? I think he's cool. What don't you like about him?"

"I don't know, it's just... I heard his name before."

"Like, in a bad way?"

Boomer rubbed his head. "I forget."

"Well, I'm sure you'll think of it."

They stopped in front of the locker rooms and hugged each other.

"I hope you have a wonderful time at practice." Bubbles said with a smile.

"I'm not. We're running around campus for like an hour today. I always get so sore after we do that."

Bubbles reached up and kissed him on the lips.

"Well, I'll be here to make it better."

"I'll be looking forward to that."

Boomer wrapped his arms around Bubbles and continued to kiss her compassionately.

"You guys need to get a room. Nobody wants to see that."

Bubbles turned around and smiled at the girl with the short blond hair.

"Oh, come on Mandy. You and your boyfriend probably do this all the time."

"Who? I know you're not talking about Dib. He's too busy with his paranormal crap to spend time with me."

"Oh my god! I have an idea, we should so double date!"

"Yeeeaaah... no."

"I got to get going before Coach blows a gasket, see you later Bubbles." said Boomer.

"Bye, Boomer!"

Bubbles went up to Mandy and looped her arm with hers, while they walked in the girl's locker room.

"So, about that double date."

"I already told you, it's not gonna happen."

They walked in the locker room to find some of the other volleyball players changing into their practice gear.

Butter came up from tying her shoe and sighed in annoyance, when she found out that her sister was there.

"What is this?! Everyone in the fucking school have practice day!"

"What's wrong Buttercup?" asked her sister.

"I have volleyball practice, Blossom has band practice, and you have cheerleading practice. Who's gonna record my fucking ridiculousness."

"Oh, is that what you're so worked up about. It's no big deal."

"No big deal! Rob Dyrdek is my everything!"

"I never knew you had a celebrity crush. It's so not like you, Buttercup." said Ty Lee, another cheerleader.

Buttercup closed her locker. "It's not like that, I just think he's funny."

"Yeah girls, she doesn't have feelings for him, she has feelings for Butch." said Bubbles with an evil grin.

The room burst into giggles and oohs as Buttercup blushed a bright red.

"I don't like Butch, okay!"

"Yeah right gurl. I know you be all like 'Oh my gawd, Butch is soo lemon lime in the summer time FINE!'" said Trixie Carter, also a cheerleader and Bubbles' BFF.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Gurl, don't try to deny it. We know you be checking him out after practice."

"I don't have time for this. I DON'T FUCKING LIKE HIM!"

Buttercup grabbed her volleyball and headed toward the door. Bubbles winked at Trixie, and she responded with a nod. Then they both continued to grab Buttercup by the shoulder before she had the chance to leave the room.

"1 2 3 4..." Trixie began while snapping her fingers.

"Who ya think you're kidding, he's the earth and heaven to ya. Try to keep it hidden, honey we can see right through ya. Girl you can't conceal it, we know how you're feeling. Who you're thinking of." sang Bubbles and Trixie in perfect harmony.

Buttercup broke free of the two's grip.

"GRRR, I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!" she yelled while storming off.

"Hm, hm, hm. That girl has it bad." said Trixie.

"I know right." Bubbles replied.

Jack arrived at the band room shortly after 2:55. He was dressed in a simple white t-shirt and black shorts, the uniform of practice. He put his stuff in his locker and began to look around the room. Most of the kids were getting ready to walk to the marching field, and some were already outside. After a couple of moments of searching, Jack finally found who he was looking for.

Princess Morebucks was bent over by the guard room, tying her shoes. He approached the curly red-head, trying his hardest not to stare at her butt. When she was finished tying her shoe, she got up, put her hands on her hips, and smiled at Jack.

"I knew you would show up."

Jack crossed his arms and looked Princess over again. She was wearing a white tank top two sizes too small for her, and a pair of black shorts that ere literally up her crack. Her slutty alternative to the practice uniform, he supposed.

"I'm pretty sure you're not suppose to wear that." he said.

"I run this bitch, I can wear whatever I want." Then she continued to strike a seductive pose. "Do you like it?"

Jack faced away from her and remained silent.

"Oh, Jackie! You try to hide your feelings for me, but I know you like me, that's why you came to see me this afternoon."

Jack pointed a finger at Princess.

"Let's get two things straight. First of all, I only came to see you because you said you were going to help me get rid of Brick. Second of all, I like Blossom not you."

"What does she got that I don't got."

"Um, I don't know... decency!"

Princess pushed Jack to the wall and tightly pressed her body against his.

"Don't try to act like you didn't like what I did to you the other day." she whispered softly in his ear.

Jack felt a warm fuzzy sensation move through out his body, just like before. He blushed a bright red while he pushed Princess away.

"Can you get off of me!" he yelled.

Princess giggled and looked down at the lower part of his body.

Jack looked at her; confused.

"What the hell are you staring at?"

Princess covered her mouth and continued to giggle.

"You are so hard right now."

Jack stood there speechless, afraid to look down. When he did, he blushed an even deeper shade of red. He just had to wear the tightest pair of shorts he had.

"I-I gotta go." he stuttered while heading toward the back door.

Princess grabbed him from behind before he had a chance to leave.

"Wait, where are you going!"

"Can you stay away from me!"

"I can't help myself. It's so thick and juicy, you should give Princess a little taste."

That was probably the most disturbing thing anyone has ever said to him. He tried to break free, but her harpy like claws were glued to his body.

"Get off of me you slut!"

He continued to squirm and wiggle, but to no prevail. Princess laughed and tighten her grip.

"Your rejection is just turning me on."

"Well, turn yourself off! I don't want nothing to do with you!"

He once again tried to break free, but Princess just ended up sending him to the ground by tickling his stomach.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Princess and Jack looked up to see Brick standing right above them. Jack quickly pushed Princess off of him and stood up.

"No."

Princess got up from the ground and grabbed Jack's arm.

"Why? Are you jealous Brick?"

"Yeah right." Then he looked over to Jack. "I didn't know you liked dirty whores."

"I don't."

Brick looked down. "Well, it sure looks like it to me."

Jack gasped and covered himself. "Man, you gay!"

"Wow, Jack. That's low even for you."

"What did you say?!" Jack said while moving toward him.

Brick moved closer to Jack until they were at eye level.

"You heard me!"

Princess got in between the two boys and held Jack back.

"Chill out, I don't want you fighting anyone yet." she whispered.

Jack crossed his arms and Princess took a step closer to Brick.

"Now, Brick. There's no need to get feisty. If you wanted me to suck you off, why didn't you say so."

Brick stared at Princess, looking absolutely disgusted with her.

"I'll rather hang myself, than to let you do that to me."

"I know you want to Brick."

"What I don't understand is, why would anyone want to stick their dick in your nasty ass mouth."

Princess was getting extremely agitated with Brick's attitude. She took another step closer and started to poke at Brick's chest.

"Well, your brother the quarterback doesn't seem to mind."

"What?!"

"You didn't know, Brick." Your brother's my number one customer."

Brick grabbed her hand and looked her in the eyes with an intense glare.

"Is there ever a day in your life where you don't lie."

He shoved Princess away and headed toward the door.

"We're late for practice..."

The sound of the closing door rung softly in the air, and only silence remained. Jack mumbled numerous curse words under his breath, before he turned his attention to Princess. She was shaking violently in rage, and he could feel the heat from her anger, radiating off of her.

Jack slowly approached Princess.

"Um... are you okay?"

Princess grabbed her flag and threw it at a nearby window, breaking it into a million of pieces. She then started to pant heavily.

Jack was unable to move or speak. He has never been so terrified by a single girl in his life.

This girl's a fucking psychopath, he thought.

"You see what I mean, Jackie. People like... him … make me very angry. And as you just saw, I'm not pretty when I'm angry. That's why you and me are gonna get rid of his poor ass."

Jack smiled at her. "Aw yeah, now you're talking. What's the plan?"

Princess picked up her flag off the floor and lead Jack out the door.

"Let's walk and talk. I'll tell you all the details."


	11. Harmonization

Blossom stood with her head down, feet shoulder length apart with her left hand to her back and her other hand firmly holding her blue color guard flag. Lee walked around her to make sure everything was in order. After she was done, she singled over to her sister. Marie took the cue and began clapping her hands at a steady pace.

"Band, atten-hut!"

"Townsville pride!" Blossom yelled while shifting into the ready position.

Lee once again checked to make sure that Blossom's flag was exactly two inches off the ground and her right foot was diagonal to her left. Lee smiled and gave Marie another thumbs-up.

"Mark time mark!"

Now Blossom began to march in place while quietly whispering the beats to herself.

"Drop spins go!"

Blossom started on the simplest of the color guard moves; the drop spin. This consisted of basically spinning the flag by placing one hand over the other.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." she said out loud while performing the move. She ended it by lifting her flag high in the air.

"Fast spins go!"

Now, this move was a little bit more difficult. There were similar to the drop spins, but a change in hand position made the flag spin faster. But it was no problem for Blossom, she did them flawlessly.

"Drop spins with a vertical toss turn, go!"

In this move, Blossom had to do four counts of drop spins, toss the flag in air while doing a 360 degree turn. The spin and the toss were easy enough; the hard part was turning and actually managing to catch the flag. But she did mange to do it, and ended by raising her flag high in the air on the last count.

"Angel wings go!"

Blossom smiled. This was her favorite technique. Starting from her left hand, she waved the flag in front of her, then quickly brought it to her backside, where she switched hands, then finally spun it front of her again. If done correctly and at a fast tempo, it should look wings. She raised her flag in the air once, holding the ready position.

"Blossom, that was great!" Lee cheered.

"Yeah, it was, but you need to work on that release for that toss." Marie said. "You know how to do the butterfly spin and the over head toss, right?"

Blossom looked away from her and started to play with her fingers.

"The butterfly spins, yes. The over head toss... no."

Marie placed a hand on her forehead and started pacing around in a circle.

"Try-outs are next week and we still haven't practice the dance or the baton."

"Don't worry Marie, we have time." Lee said.

"Yeah," Blossom added. "And plus my sister Bubbles is in show choir, and she said that they use the same dance for their auditions, so she can teach me."

"Teach you what?"

Bubbles and a couple of the other cheerleaders came up and approached the three girls.

"You know the dance routine I need to know for color guard."

"Oh yeah! That dance is easy, Trixie do it with me."

The best friends dropped their bags and stood next to each other with their hands on their hips.

"1 2 3 GO!" Trixie counted off.

The girls continued to perform the dance, which consisted of 24 counts of turns, twists and leaps. You can tell by their precise movements that were master dancers. The girls concluded the dance by executing a simple spilt. They got up and bowed while the other cheerleaders clapped and cheered.

"See Blossom, I told you it was easy. I can teach it to you in no time." Bubbles said.

"I suppose you can." Blossom said. "So what are you guys doing here anyway?"

"Oh, they delayed practice until 3:45, so we're just walking around."

"Well maybe you can walk around somewhere else. We're kinda busy." said Lee.

"Oh, c'mon on, Lee." Said May, Marie's and Lee's younger sister. "We're just trying to help."

"We don't need any help from a bunch of happy peppy cheerleaders."

"Are you guys still jealous that I made the cheerleading squad and you didn't?"

"That's it." Marie said. "You guys need to go."

Bubbles put her hands on her hips and pouted. "Well, you guys are not any fun."

She then picked off her bag off the ground.

"I guess we'll get going now… hey, Blossom. Can you do me a favor and go by the theater after you're done with practice. I think I left my purse in there."

"Yeah sure, I can do that." Blossom replied.

Bubbles waved to her sister. "See ya later, Blossom."

"Okay, bye."

"Oh yeah, and Jack told me to tell you that he said hi."

"Aww, he did. He's so sweet!" Marie said.

Blossom looked around the field. "Where's Jack anyway? Maybe he can help me on my over head toss."

"He's over there talking to Princess." said Lee.

"What?!" Marie yelled. "I'm tried of this bitch sexing up every guy she meets. We got to save him from that whore."

A whistle blew loudly in the background, making Marie stop in her tracks.

"We can't right now, Marie." Lee said. "We have to practice the show."

"Fine!" The blue-girl haired moaned. "Let's go Blossom; you can stand next to Lee and me."

"But, I haven't practice the show routine that much. I don't want to embarrass myself."

"Don't worry about it. Nobody is looking at us, and besides, Mr. T stops us every two seconds to tell us what we're doing wrong."

"Well, I guess I can try."

"That's the spirit!"

Marie and Lee took Blossom the shoulders and lead her to center field.

Jack crossed his arms and looked Princess in the eye with a cocky stare.

"Blossom's pretty good right? She might even beat you."

"Not if I have anything to do about it." She replied.

Jack gave her an angry look. "You're not going to hurt her, are you?"

"Oh, Jackie. I would never dream of hurting her."

Much, she continued in her head.

"So, do you know the first part of the plan?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah…" He said while walking away.

Jack walked over to the percussion truck to get his drum, and when he turned around he found Numbah 5 standing behind him.

"Hey, Numbah 5 how's it-"

She quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him across the grass.

"We don't' got time for that! I want to introduce to the rest of the drumline before we start."

"Do they have cool nicknames like you?" he asked.

Abigail spun around and smiled at him.

"You know they do, Baby."

She then called over to the group of drummers. "Hey guys, it's time for you to meet the new guy!"

The line dropped their drums and ran over to greet their new member. Jack was surprised, he had never seen a set of people so excited to see him.

"Okay yall, this is our new snare, Jack a.k.a LDB."

"Hey." Jack said proudly.

A girl with blue hair and white porcelain skin was the first to approach him.

"Hello, Jack! I'm Jenny a.k.a X-J9. I'm a cymbal girl and I'm so glad that you're in our section."

Jack's eyes sparkled with delight as he reached over and grabbed the girl's hand.

"Are you a robot?! I have never seen anything so beautifully built!"

"Hey! Don't touch her!"

An Asian boy with freckles came from within the crowd and took Jenny away from him.

"Sheldon, can you chill out! You're not even with her!" yelled the other cymbal player, a dark skinned girl with short black braids. She then turned to Jack.

"You'll have to excuse Sheldon. He's crazy. I'm Libby by the way, but people call me Mad Lib, and you think you know why."

Jack grinned at Sheldon. "And what's your nickname?"

"It's Shellshock for your information, and you stay away from Jenny!"

Jack rolled his eyes in annoyance. This guy was a total nut-job, but he had to admit, his nickname was cool.

"Okay, on to the tenors." Abigail said. "That's Francine, a.k.a San Fran, she's a freshman, and that's Gerald a.k.a G-Dog and he has a ridiculous tall afro. That's Mac, a.k.a Mac Attack, and last but not least, we have… Maurice, a.k.a Reese Cup."

The senior came up and touched her on the shoulder. "That was a slammin' introduction, Abby. He knows the tenors now."

Abigail blushed. "No problem…"

Jack looked the both of them over. He could tell there was something between them.

"So, anyway…" she continued. "You already meet the other snares: J-Man, Lil' D, and Am Drag. Now, it's time you to meet my crew; the basses."

She brought Jack to a group of four people all holding different sized bass drums.

"You already meet Shellshock, he plays Bass 3. Next, we have Ferb, he doesn't talk much, but when he does… you better watch out, that's how he got his nickname F-Bomb, and then we have Spud… yeah, I don't know, I guess he likes potatoes or something, and last we have.."

"Jack Spicer is that really you!"

A short yellow bald kid ran up and hugged Jack's leg.

"It has been so long, I thought I would never see you again."

"You know Omi, Jack?" Abigail asked.

Jack kicked Omi off him and sighed loudly.

"Yeah, he used to go to my old school."

And I thought I got rid of him, he continued in his head.

Jack then looked over Omi and then looked over one of the bass drums.

"How do you even carry one of those? Shouldn't you be falling over or something?"

"Not at all, Jack Spicer. Bass 1 is surprising light."

"Sure…"

"Hey, don't underestimate Omi." Abigail said. "He might be small, but he hits that drum hard, he breaks a drum head almost every week."

"Yes, that's why they call me Omega. I'm a very powerful hitter."

A whistle blew once again in the background, and it was so loud that it made the group's ears ring.

"Damn, what is that boy's problem? He's been pissed off ever since practice started." said Abigail.

Well now, he's going to get even more pissed off, Jack thought.

The band set up in the middle of the field in attention, waiting with their horns and flags at their side until they received directions from their drum major.

Who in which, was extremely pissed off.

Princess just made him so irritated. She was probably the most disgusting vilest creature that ever crawled out of the recesses of the earth, and now that he knew that she was working with Jack, he definitely didn't want him anywhere near Blossom. Him and his dirty hands soiling his perfect little angel. He wasn't having that.

Brick raised his hands and examined his band, making sure that everyone was making eye contact with him.

"Band atten-hut!" he yelled loud and clearly.

"Townsville pride!" the band roared back.

"Mark time mark!"

The band silently began to march in place.

"1… 2…3. Go." He whispered while striking his right hand.

The sound of the bass drums rattled through the air, followed by the tenors and the snares. The tubas then entered with a rich beautiful sound, as the opening of Carimina Burana began to come into realization.

So far, so good, thought Brick. Only eight more measures of holding before we march into the next-

The brass section suddenly came in a measure too early, which caused the woodwinds to march in the wrong direction, which caused the colorguard to spin their flags too late, which caused the drumline to… in other words, things were a disaster.

There was complete chaos out on that marching field, as sections began to yell at each other about how they messed up. Brick buried his head and sighed. He had enough problems already, now he had to deal with a potential band war breaking out. He grabbed his megaphone and climbed down the podium to address the fired up students.

"What the hell was that?!" Brick said into the megaphone. "We're supposed to hold for 32 counts, not 24!"

"Umm, no we're not…"

Brick searched the crowd to find who opposed him. When the person finally showed himself, Brick wasn't surprised about who it was. It was like part of him already knew.

"We hold for 24, then march for 32." Jack Spicer said.

Brick's glare deepened. "How are you going to tell me? You just started band Monday."

"Hey, I'm just following what's on the chart."

"What are you talking about?! I wrote the freakin' charts!"

Mr. T came up to the both of them holding a clipboard.

"He's right Brick. It's hold for 24, march for 32."

"Let me see that." Brick took the clipboard form his band director and began to search through the charts that told every single student where to march.

"These are not my charts." He finally said; his voice low in tone.

Mr. T rubbed his chin. "They're not?"

Brick threw the clipboard on the ground. "No! We been practicing this show since July, you don't notice anything difference?"

"Well, you did say that you were going to change some stuff." said Abigail. "And these were in our folders."

"We didn't get that in our folders." said Marie. "We still have our old stuff."

"And that's why you guys hit us."

"Oh, shut up. You saw us coming."

"Um, actually I didn't. I can't really see over my bass."

"Can you two just shut up?!" Brick yelled.

He rubbed his head. This was all so confusing. He didn't understand how all those charts got messed up. Unless…

He turned around and discovered Jack and Princess smiling evilly in the background.

He went up to the two, his eyes full of rage and pointed a finger at them.

"You two sabotaged my charts!"

Jack raised his hands in a defensive stance.

"Woah man, what are you talking about?! I didn't do anything!"

"Yeah, you can't go around accusing people, Brick." Princess added.

"I don't know what kind of sick game you guys are playing, but you better cut it out or else."

"Or else what?" Jack said loudly.

Brick went toward Jack with his teeth clenched and his fist by his side ready to do some damage, but Mr. T pulled him back.

"It's alright Brick," Mr. T said quietly. "We can get Double D to re-do the charts."

"But they're up to something." He whispered back angrily.

"And when I find out what it is, they'll get in trouble. Now in the meantime, how about you go back on that podium, so we can continue practice."

"Fine." Brick groaned.

Mr. T patted him on the head like his own little pet.

"That's a boy." Then he took the megaphone away from him.

"Okay, just forget the new charts. Does anyone remember the old routine?"

"No." said the majority of the band.

"Oh my god! What's the point of band camp if you guys can't even memorize a simple ten minute show?!" He wiped his face in annoyance. "Whatever, just go home. I'm sorry I wasted all your time. Clearly your life is way more important than this band. But just know one thing, when competition season comes rolling by, expect it to be the worst four weeks of your life. You're dismissed."

The band moaned and groaned when they were told their terrifying fate, but they eventually got over it and started their walk back to the school.

"Oh, great," Marie said while sticking a piece of gum in her mouth. "That bald-headed man is gonna work us to death next month."

"Well I guess we won't be started on the baton stuff." Blossom said.

"I know right. We really needed to work on that. How about we come over your house on Saturday."

"Why not on Friday?"

"The pre-homecoming party is tomorrow."

"What's that?"

"You probably heard your sister talking about it. You know that homecoming's coming up in November right? Well, this is just a pre-party before the actually dance."

Blossom was confused. She spent so much time studying at home, that she still wasn't aware about all these teenage customs.

"Why would they do that?"

"Beats me, but it's still a fun party. All the popular kids take turns hosting it, and this year it's at… ugh… Princess'."

"Oh… does that mean you're not going?"

"I'm still going; I just hope I don't see a lot of Princess there." She bent over to pick up her bag and flag. "C'mon Lee, let's get going."

"Wait for me guys." Blossom shouted. "I'll walk with you."

Butch jogged at a steady pace while the song Stronger by Kayne West played in his ears. While he jogged, it seemed like he was virtually restless, but that wasn't the case for his younger brother, who was slowly lagging behind.

"C'mon Boomer pick up the pace, we still have another two miles to run."

"Can we… please… take a break?" Boomer panted.

"A break?! What if we were in the fourth quarter with one minute and thirty seconds to go and we were down by one touchdown and it was all up to you. You wouldn't want a break then, would you?"

"But…" He stopped and put his hands on your knees. "That's different… then maximum I have to run a time is 100 yards, if even that. But running non-stop for four miles? That's just ridiculous."

"Then you better go back to your girly dancing."

"Hey! Dancing is hard work, especially when you have to sing too."

Butch took off his headphones and put his iPod in his pocket. He then looked around at his surroundings.

"Hey… we're at the marching field. Time to check on my colorguard bitches." He said while climbing over the fence.

"We can't just leave. We need to finish."

"Are you saying that you rather run?"

Boomer stared at his brother for a moment. "Yeah, let's check on your colorguard bitches."

Butch examined the array of colorguard girls that were that were still left standing around. They were all pretty decent looking (some were not). But there was one girl in particular that he had his eye on.

"Hey, Marie. Do you miss me?"

The blue-haired girl turned around and gave Butch a mean glare.

"What the hell do you want?

Butch came up and wrapped his arms around her.

"I just came to see my girl."

Marie pushed him away. "You mean your ex-girl. I'm done with you."

"Oh, c'mon Marie, are you still mad about-"

"Yes. Now, I'm done talking about it."

Butch once again tried to garb Marie around the waist.

"What about the good times we had together, I know you want to talk about that."

Marie pushed him away again.

"Fuck off Butch! Go mess with some of you other girls!"

"Fine! I will!"

He looked Marie over one last time, then he stormed off in the opposite direction.

"Um… do you know where Brick is?" Boomer asked shyly.

Lee pointed to a giant tree. "He's over there."

"Thank you."

Blossom watched Boomer walk away and then faced Marie.

"You used to date Butch?"

"Yeah… a long time ago…"

"Oh… and I'm assuming that it didn't work out."

"All he wanted to do was smoke pot and have sex." Marie said. "He didn't care about me. He's just a player and all the girls in this school are his little toys."

She walked off without facing Blossom or her sister.

"Oh, I didn't mean to upset her." Blossom said.

"She'll be alright." replied Lee.

"I just wanted to know why she hated Butch so much."

"Butch got her addicted to weed."

"What?"

"That's why she chews gum all the time. If she doesn't she'll go into withdrawal."

"I'm sorry… I didn't know."

"It's okay… are you still walking with us?"

"No, I just remembered that I need to go by the theater for Bubbles."

"Alright. See you tomorrow."

Lee walked away and Blossom started toward the theater to retrieve Bubbles' purse.

Boomer went over to the giant tree to find his older brother leaning against it.

"What's up, bro!" he said cheerfully.

"Hey…" Brick replied emotionless.

Boomer was puzzled. "What's wrong?"

"It's a long story…"

"Well, we have time. Bubby isn't picking us up until another ten minutes or so."

"It's just that people are really pissing me off."

"Who?"

"Princess and Jack."

"You mean Jack Spicer! I knew I heard his name before. He's the one who locked you out the band room, right?"

"Yeah…"

"You want me to beat his ass?" someone else said.

Butch approached the two with a pretty Puerto Rican girl holding on to his arm.

"Um… no. I think I got it."

"I got to go Butch. See you later." The girl said.

Butch brought the girl closer and gave her a little squeeze.

"See ya babe."

The girl walked away and Brick rolled his eyes.

"Do you even know that girl?" he asked.

"I think her name is Paulina or some s-. I don't know, but that girl sure is fine."

"Right…"

"So what's this I'm hearing about you and Jack? You guys gonna throw hands."

"It's nothing…"

"No, it's not. Brick's mad at Jack because he's trying to steal his girl." Boomer said.

"You mean Blossom?"

"How do you guys know that I like Blossom?!" Brick exclaimed.

"Me and Boomer literally saw you staring at her for twenty minutes." Butch said. "And plus our walls are not that thick, we can hear you talking about her all the time."

Brick blushed. "Well… um… ah…"

Butch started to laugh. "Aww man! You're so whipped!"

Brick was embarrassed, he didn't he know he talked about Blossom that much, and he swore he only looked at her for a second.

"Leave him alone Butch." Boomer said, and then he put a hand on Brick's shoulder. "He just doesn't get it. He's never truly liked a girl, he just uses them. So, do you want to talk about it?"

Brick nodded. His younger brother was the only one that he could discuss this with. He was more sensitive and way more understanding than Butch."

"I just can't stop thinking about her. It's like non-stop everyday. No matter how hard I try to ignore, she always comes back and takes over my brain."

"I see your problem, and I have a solution for you."

"What is it?"

"You need to spend more time with her. You should ask her to go to the pre-homecoming party with you."

"What?! Are you crazy! I can't ask her out on a date!"

"It doesn't have to be a date. Me and Butch are going, so is Bubbles and Buttercup. It can be like a group thing."

"Alright, I guess that can-"

A loud horn sounded, and the two brothers turned to see Bubby waiting for them across the street.

"I guess we got to go." Boomer said. "Was there anything else you wanted to tell me?"

"It's just… no… it's stupid."

"What man! You can tell me!"

"Well, it's just that… I kinda wrote a song about her."

"A song! Really? I want to hear it!"

"No… no you don't…"

"Yes I do! Let's go down to the theater real quick, so you can play it. Please!"

Brick paused and glanced at the ground, and then he finally came back and looked at Boomer.

"Fine… we can tell Bubby to drop us off."

He and his brother got their stuff and walked toward Bubby's car.

"Hey Babies! How was school today?" Bubby asked.

"It was fine." Brick said while getting into the front seat. "Bubby, can you drop me and Boomer off at the theater. We need to do something."

"But of course, Baby."

Then she looked around the car.

"Where's your brother?"

She leaned out the car window and saw Butch over by the gate talking to yet another colorguard girl.

"I thought I told that boy…"

She honked the horn loudly.

"Butch! Get your fast behind in the car! I told you to stop talking to all these girls! I swear to gawd, if one of these girls come up calling me saying that you got them pregnant, I'ma slam you so hard through the floor that your gonna be eating authentic Chinese food!"

Butch rolled his eyes and marched toward the car.

"Man, what was all that about? You're throwing off my A-game."

Bubby's eyes almost popped out her head when she heard that one.

"Your A-game?! The only A-game should be having is with them grades. Now, let's go. I need you to watch Flapjack while I run some errands."

Butch hit the hood of the car, unable to control his anger.

"Why the hell do I always have to watch the damn kid?!"

"What did you say to me?! Uh-uh, that's it. You're not going anywhere tonight!"

"What?! You can't do that!"

"Yes I can. My house, my rules."

"Man, fuck this shit." He mumbled under his breath.

"What did you say?!"

"I didn't say anything."

"That's what I thought. Now, get in the car."

A few moments later, Brick and Boomer entered the school's theater. Boomer lead Brick up the stairs to a piano sitting alone on the stage.

"Here we are."

Brick took a seat on the bench and reached his hands out to play, but he hesitated.

"I just want to warn you that the song is pretty stupid, I'm not really the best lyricist, and also my piano skills are a bit rusty, and both of us know that I'm not a great singer, and-"

"Dude, it's okay."

Brick looked down. "I'm sorry, I'm kinda nervous."

Boomer took a seat next to his brother.

"You don't need to be nervous. We're the only ones here. Tell you what, I'll sing with you. Do you have any sheet music?"

Brick reached in his pocket and gave his brother the folded up piece of hand written sheet music. Boomer then opened the paper and looked at it for a minute.

"Okay, I got it."

"You do?"

"Hey, you're not the only one who can sight read music. I'm in chorus, remember?"

Brick took a deep breath and started to play some simple piano chords.

I've been tryin' to write a song about you

I've been trying here but no such luck

And I've been tryin' to write that describes just how much

I need you tonight…

Brick slowly glanced at his brother, and Boomer directed him to keep going. He continued the song by adding in the melody.

And I've been working at this song for ages

I wanted to make sure it came out right

I hope that it's just how things really are here

And, how I am, feeling for you

Now he came in with the chorus, along with Boomer who sang it with him.

I wanna write

The soundtrack to your life

And live it with you (with you)

I wanna write

The soundtrack to your life

And live it with you (with you)

With you…

So first I started with this simple beat and

I even added a piano tune

But then I had to think of words that describe

The things I really wanna sing to you, oh

So now I'm working on this melody and

I think that I could add a harmony

I just want for this song to come together

Then maybe you'd see what you mean to me

I wanna write…

Blossom entered the back door of the theater. She looked around puzzled; unfamiliar with her surroundings.

Now, where is that purse, she thought.

She searched behind various props and costume racks, and still couldn't seem to find it. She was about to give up, until she saw something sparkly from the corner of her eye. Blossom went in for a closer look, and discovered that the sparkle was from the chain off of Bubbles' purse. The she realized that it was on top of a really high shelf.

Blossom pouted.

How in the world did it get up there? She thought.

She was about to start climbing until she heard something.

So, Blossom just remember…

Huh? Is someone calling my name? She thought.

She went closer to the stage to get a better look.

…As this song hits your ears

I'm tryin' to turn the way I feel for you

Into something that you can hear

But how can words of music

Explain what love is

Nothing I could ever sing would do it justice

And I don't know where to start

I just want you to hear the song in my heart

Oh…

Brick took his hands off the keyboard and blushed.

"And then the chorus just repeats a couple of more times…"

Boomer looked at his brother and nodded.

"That's a really nice song man… If you sang that to me, I would totally go out with you."

"Um, dude… that's kinda weird…"

"IF I WAS A GIRL! I MEANT IF I WAS A GIRL!"

"Whatever you say man…"

Blossom stood there completely speechless. There was so many emotions running through her, that she couldn't even begin describe it. She peeked back out to see the two walking toward the front door.

I have to get Bubbles' purse and get out of here before they spot me, she thought.

She started to climb the six foot shelf. It was a little wobbly, but she managed to keep her balance. She grabbed the blue Coach purse from the top shelf and made her way down. She was almost there until she missed her footing and slipped, landing on the floor with a big thud.

"What was that?" she heard one of the boys said, probably Boomer.

"I don't know, let's check it out."

Blossom frantically got up, grabbed the purse, and ran toward the exit. She was about to turn the door knob and open the door, but it was too late…

The song Little Song is by The Secret Handshake


	12. Preparation

"Hey, Blossom. What are you doing here?"

Blossom slowly turned to face the blond-haired boy.

"Oh, hey Boomer… I was just getting Bubbles' purse. It was up on that shelf and I kinda fell."

"Oh man, me and some of the show choir boys were just trying to play a prank on her. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine." She replied, even though she was now feeling a sharp stinging pain in her left wrist.

"Who are you talking to Boomer?" Brick asked while walking into the room.

Brick froze in his steps when he discovered that Boomer was talking to Blossom.

Blossom turned to Brick and blushed.

"Hey, Brick…"

Brick stood there speechless until Boomer elbowed him in the arm.

"Hey, Blossom!" he spat out.

There was a long moment of awkward silence, then Boomer elbowed Brick in the arm again.

"Dude, go ahead and ask her." He whispered.

"I'm going, can you give me a second." Brick whispered back.

"So… Blossom, I-"

Brick turned around to Boomer staring at the both of them with a strange smile.

"Um, Boomer… don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Not really… I'm just waiting for you."

Brick gave Boomer an annoyed look.

"Oh! I get it… I guess I'll just leave you two alone then."

Brick waited until Boomer left the room before he turned his attention back to Blossom.

"I'm sorry about that. He's a lost cause, so he's kinda slow."

Blossom giggled. "It's okay."

She looked up at Brick and gave him a big warm smile.

Brick could feel his face heating up. Her eyes were just so beautiful, like dazzling pink sapphires. He was having a hard time looking into them, and he was tempted to run away before he embarrassed himself like he did on Tuesday.

"So… I just wanted to know… if you were going to the pre-homecoming party tomorrow."

Blossom nodded. "Yeah, I'm going with my sisters."

"Oh, that's good… so I was wondering if you would want to go with me, I mean, you'll be already there, it's just that… you know… we can-"

"Hang out together while we're there." Blossom finished.

"Yes. Most definitively. That's exactly what I was thinking."

Blossom looked down at the ground for a moment, and then looked back at Brick.

"Okay… that sounds great."

Brick was surprised at her answer. "Wait… what?"

"I said… that sounds great. I'll see you there."

"Yeah, I guess I will."

"Well, I have to get going now… see you later Brick."

"Wait, Blossom… can I ask you one more thing?"

"What is it?"

Brick looked away and put his hand behind his head.

"Did you happen to hear anything while you were here earlier?"

Blossom's face turned red.

"Ahhh… hear what? I didn't hear anything. I just came here to get Bubbles' purse and I didn't hear a sound!" she said frantically.

"Um… are you okay, Blossom?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I'm probably just getting a cold, I should go home and rest. See you tomorrow."

Blossom quickly rushed past Brick before she could make it even more obvious that she did hear Brick's little song.

Brick put his hand on his chest and sighed.

That was another close one, he thought.

Boomer came out from behind the stage curtains and went up to his brother.

"Dude, I saw everything! You did great!"

"You were spying on us!" Brick yelled.

"Yeah, but that's not the point. We have to get you ready for your date."

"It is not a date." Brick said. "It's a casual get-together."

Boomer rolled his eyes. "Well, whatever you want to call it, we have to get you ready for it."

He pushed his older brother toward the exit. "C'mon let's go, Bubby's waiting for us."

"Okay, okay, I'm going."

The two boys exited the theater and went around front were Bubby was waiting for them along with Butch. When they finally arrived, Brick laid his eyes on a truly horrible sight.

He saw Butch and Princess together with his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. Princess then reached up and whispered something in his ear, and Butch responded with a grin. Then she looked up at Brick with her devious green eyes and smiled before finally walking away.

Brick stared at his brother, absolutely astounded at what he saw.

"Tell me it's not true." He said.

"What?" Butch replied with a confused expression.

Brick pointed to Princess, who was now stepping into a limo.

Butch glanced at the red-head and then shrugged.

"What can I say? She's the only bitch who knows how to do it right."

Brick was once again utterly flabbergasted with his brother and was ever so tempted to reach over and slap him straight in the face.

"Oh my god! Why the hell would you do something like that, especially with someone like HER!"

"You're acting like it's such a big deal, which it's not, and besides, you have to admit Princess is pretty hot."

Brick narrowed his eyes.

"You disgust me…"

Butch shrugged his shoulders again. "Oh well…"

"Um, guys… where's Bubby?" Boomer asked.

Brick and Boomer searched the parking lot and their care-giver was nowhere to be found.

"Butch…" Brick said angrily.

"What?! She made me mad, I told her off, and she kicked me out the car and told me to walk my ass home."

Brick put his head in his hands and groaned, and then went up to his brother.

"Can you stop being an asshole for one day?!"

"What! She started it!" Butch yelled back.

"Well, you're going to be walking home by yourself!" Brick grabbed his younger brother's hand and dragged him down the street. "C'mon Boomer, Let's go!"

Boomer sighed deeply while Brick dragged him. He hated when his brothers fought like this. He didn't understand why they couldn't just get along. It would have made things a whole lot easier if they did.

Butch watched his brothers walk down the sidewalk, and then he rolled his eyes.

I'll be damned if they think I'm walking all the way home, he thought.

He turned around to see that Princess' limo was still there in the parking lot. It was like she was waiting for him. He wondered if going with a crazy whore was a good idea, but then he figured that anything was better than walking.

"Yo, Princess." Butch yelled out. "Come give your boy a ride."

Blossom sat on her sister's bed while firmly holding her left wrist. The throbbing pain was getting worst and it was literally killing her. Bubbles came in the room holding a bunch of Blossom's clothes and threw them on the bed next to her.

"Are you still messing with that arm?" she asked.

"It's still hurts…" Blossom replied.

"Did you tell Dad?"

"Yeah, he said that he was going to take me to the doctor tomorrow morning."

"Oh, poopy. You're not gonna have a chance to see Brick before your date."

"It's not a date; we're going together as a group."

"Yeah, but eventually we're gonna split off, so it's basically a date."

Blossom started to play with her hair. "I didn't think about it like that. I'm kinda nervous now."

"Don't worry Blossom, I'm gonna help you. We're gonna pick out your outfit, do your makeup, get your hair did, and all that stuff."

Then she looked around the room.

"Where's Buttercup? She's supposed to be helping us."

She ran out the room and a moment later came back dragging Buttercup by the collar.

"I don't want to help you pick out clothes!" Buttercup yelled.

"But we need to help Blossom, and besides you need a outfit too."

"An outfit? I have an outfit. I'm gonna wear a t-shirt, some sweatpants and some flip-flops and I'm calling it a day."

Bubbles crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

"Oh, c'mon Buttercup. Don't you want to look nice?"

"What's wrong with what I want to wear?"

"You always have to go somewhere looking like you just came from practice."

"Most of the time I am coming from practice!"

"Well, I think you should dress up, at least wear some makeup."

"I don't want to!"

"You are such a tomboy."

Buttercup put her hands over her ears and shook her head violently. Bubbles always went on and on with arguments like this. She was tired of hearing her whiny little voice, every time they went out together and she didn't like what she was wearing. She was sick of it.

"I'll dress up for homecoming, if you would just SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Bubbles closed her mouth and looked at her sister with sparkling eyes.

"For real!"

Buttercup automatically regretted what she just said.

"Wait… hold up a minute!"

"No, too late! You already said it!"

Bubbles went over and hugged her sister.

"Oh Buttercup, you're going to look so beautiful in the dress I pick out for you!"

"I can't pick out my own dress?"

"Of course not, you don't know anything about fashion."

"Okay, whatever. I'll wear the stupid dress."

"Buttercup in a dress?" said Bradley while walking in to the room. "That's gonna be a mess… hey, that rhymed!"

Buttercup leaped up and tackled her little brother to the ground, but Bradley managed to slip out of her hands like a greased pig.

"Na-na-na-na-na, you can't catch me!" he sang while running down the hallway.

Buttercup got up and chased after him. "You're dead meat!"

"Boys will be boys." Bubbles sighed, she then walked over to the pile of clothes that was located on the bed and picked something up.

"This is the perfect top for you." She said to her sister.

It was a pink pastel tank top with ribbons tied to the selves and beads running down the sides.

"I don't know Bubbles." Blossom said. "I don't think it's me."

"Don't be silly, it's totally you. It's girly, but stylish, flirty, but subtle, and with this…"

She went in the pile and took out a white mini skirt.

"… you're really gonna look good."

"Isn't the skirt a little too short?" Blossom questioned.

"It's not… so anyway, go to accessories."

She went to her vanity, opened her jewelry box, and took out a pearl necklace.

"This is gonna bring more attention to your chest, which reminds me, you need a push-up bra."

Blossom blushed and covered her torso.

"I-I don't want anyone looking up there!" she yelled.

"Fine, but you're still wearing the pearls… and finally…"

She reached over and grabbed a round container.

"With this shimmer, he's going to think that you glow like a bunch of tiny little diamonds shining in the moonlight. Ahhh … it's going to be so romantic, I can't wait for tomorrow."

Blossom glanced at her sister and then looked down.

"Do you really think he'll like me?"

"Well, duh! You're the prettiest girl I know. Well, not as pretty as me, but you come at a close second."

Blossom didn't know if that was a complement or an insult.

"Umm… thanks… I think."

"No problem sis. Now come help me pick out my clothes."

Meanwhile at the boy's apartment, Boomer just finished going over the same routine with Brick, giving him advice and fashion tips for his date with Blossom.

"So, are you all set for tomorrow?" asked Boomer.

"Yeah, I'm totally set." Brick replied.

That was a complete lie. He has never felt so nervous before in his life. Even with all the help form Boomer, he still didn't think he could pull this whole date thing off.

He plopped himself on the couch and began to drift off into his own fantasy world. A world he thought about all the worst-case scenarios that could happen while he was with Blossom. It was horrible.

There was one where he called her a fat pig and she ran into the bathroom crying, and there was another one where he accidently pushed her down the stairs and she got paralyzed from the waist down, and her whole family hated him for life.

A loud knock finally broke him out of his terrifying daydream.

"Boys! Open up!" Bubby yelled through the door.

Boomer ran to his brother while Brick quickly jumped off the couch.

"What do we do?" Boomer whispered loudly. "When Bubby finds out that Butch isn't here, she's gonna kill us!"

"Okay, okay. Just give me two seconds to think."

Too late. Bubby used her brute force to bust open the door before Brick could have a chance to figure things out. Boomer immediate reaction was to hide behind the couch and leave him to face the angry woman.

Brick sighed. What a coward, he thought.

Bubby stopped in front of the red-head and looked him in the eyes.

"Where's Butch? I know he ain't here, or I would have been hearing his mouth."

"What are you talking about, Bubby? Of course he's here." Brick said while trying to keep a straight face.

Bubby's glare was just so intimidating, he had to make sure he didn't crack under pressure, or they both be done for.

"I think you're lying to me." She announced.

"I-I'm not." Brick said, his voice trembling a little.

Bubby raised her eyebrow in confusion. She could tell something was up.

Beads of sweat started to form on Brick's forehead as Bubby continued to stare him down.

I could really use some Boomer charm right about now, he thought.

Boomer could almost hear his brother yelling for help form inside his mind. No matter how scared he was of Bubby, he couldn't leave his brother to face him alone.

He quickly ran from behind the couch and came to his brother's rescue.

"He's telling the truth, Bubby. Butch is in his room sleeping."

"Oh well I guess that ex- wait a minute … what is he doing sleep? It's only 7:30?"

"Umm… well… ahh…" Boomer stuttered. He was quickly running out of things to say.

"He's sick!" Brick budded in. "Yup, he's sleeping because he said he wasn't feeling good."

"Oh, the poor baby. I better go take his temperature."

Brick ran in front of Bubby and blocked the way to Butch's room.

"You don't want to go in there. He's really really bad. He probably has the flu or something."

"Well, if that's the case, I gotta get in there and stop that thang before it spreads."

"Bubby, please don't go in there." Boomer pleaded.

Bubby placed her hands on her hips and looked at the two boys.

"What are yall trying to hide from me?"

"Nothing. We just don't-"

Boomer was interrupted by an alarming crash coming from inside the room. A few moments later, the door slowly opened and Butch peeked his head out.

"What's going on guys…" he said in a drowsy tone.

"Butch… are you okay?" Bubby asked.

"I'm… straight…"

"Are you sure? Because you look like a hot mess."

"All I have to do is sleep it off and I'll be easy… breezy."

"Well, okay babies… I guess I'll go now… sorry about the door… I'll get that fixed later."

"It's okay Bubby, good night."

"Yeah, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite." Boomer added.

Bubby smiled and then she went up the stairs and locked the door.

Brick waited until he was sure Bubby was gone, then he face his brother.

"That's the last time we're covering for your ass. Now, where the hell were you?"

Butch shrugged him off and wen to sit on the couch.

"You were with Princess, weren't you?" Brick asked.

"No…"

Brick went up to his brother and picked up a curly red hair from off his shoulder.

"You're such a liar… so what did you do together, as if I had to ask."

Butch started off into space, totally unaware of the questions Brick was asking him.

"Butch… what's with you?" Brick questioned.

Boomer leaned over and examined Butch's face.

"I think he's high."

"What?!" Brick exclaimed.

He went over and checked for himself.

Yup, it was true. His blood-shot eyes and drowsy voice was a dead give-a-way, plus he reeked of the stuff. Brick couldn't believe Bubby didn't notice it before, her being a nurse and all. But, what he didn't understand was, why would Princess wasted her time getting his idiot brother high. It didn't make any sense.

He glanced over at Butch to him rambling on and on about how much weed he smoked and how that it was imported from South America, and how it was probably the best weed he ever smoked in his life. Brick shook his head. Butch was such a chatterbox when he was wasted, it was ridiculous.

Immediately, a light bulb went off in his head as he grasped the truth.

"Butch! What did you and Princess talk about while you were together?"

Butch gave him a smug smile.

"Man… I'm so fucking high right now… I don't even-"

"Try to remember!"

Brick noticed Butch's slowly closing, so he quickly started to shake him again.

"Oh no! You're not getting out of this that easily!"

But it was too late. Butch was out like a light, and there was no getting him up once he entered his deep sleep. Brick pushed him on the couch and paced around the room furiously.

He now knew that Princess managed to get some information from Butch while he was intoxicated, and she somehow managed to make him forget their little conversation they had together.

Boomer covered Butch with a blanket and then looked over at Brick.

"Is there something wrong?"

"It's nothing…"

Brick didn't want to lie to his brother, but he felt like he had to. Knowing Boomer, he'll be the first to freak out and tell everyone their business. No. he had to keep this on the down low. He didn't know what kind of info Princess had on him. But he did know that it will come up and bite in the ass eventually.


	13. Iginition

Hours later, at precisely 9:30 pm, Jack Spicer sped down the empty streets of the country side, and a few seconds later he finally reached his destination.

It was Scottish mansion located on top of a hill, the outdoor lighting made it appear like it was glowing. Jack guessed that it was around 50,000 square feet, a little bigger that his Malibu mansion down by the beach. He continued down the drive to find it already packed with cars. Before he left, he was deciding whether to bring his Lamborghini or his Maserati convertible. He was glad he brought his Kawasaki motorcycle instead. He parked his ride against a tree and then moved his goggles from his eyes to their regular place on top of his forehead.

He walked into the house trying to act as cool as possible, which actually was really hard for him to do. He gets a bit squeamish when he gets around strangers. That was probably because he rarely goes out; too busy working on his projects. In reality, this was the first major party he's been to.

He searched around the enormous foyer and found a familiar looking red-head. Not the one he was expecting, but she was good enough.

"Hey, Mindy." Jack said casually.

Mindy glanced up at him with rings under her eyes and a tablet in her hands.

"Oh, hey Jack…" She replied; her voice drained of energy.

"What's up with you?" Jack asked.

"This whole party. I have to direct the guests, check the food supply, make sure people don't destroy the house…" she stopped and took a deep breath. "And Princess is having me do it all by myself."

"Wow… that seems like a personal problem… so where's Princess anyway?"

Mindy rolled her eyes and pointed upwards.

"She's up in her private study. Third floor, second door on the right."

"Thanks… um… Cindy."

"It's Mindy."

"I knew that."

He walked up the grand staircase and stopped in front of the door that Mindy directed him to. He slowly turned the knob and entered the room. At first, he thought it was completely dark, but then his eyes adjusted to the purple dim that surrounded the space. He looked around to find the room covered from the floor to the ceiling with purple and gold silk, and the plush leather couches adorned with luxurious velvet pillows. Then an unusual scent entered his nose, it smelled of lavender and pineapples.

Well, that's a fucked up combination, he thought.

He walked toward the center of the room and immediately froze in his tracks. He looked up and he couldn't help but stare at the sight that was before him.

A silhouetted body twisted and manipulated itself around a long metal pole located on a small stage. Every turn and motion flowed like honey, and every spin and dip was breathtaking. The figure then stopped what it was doing and walked toward the light.

"Hi, Jackie." Said a familiar voice.

Jack blushed while Princess did a handstand off the stage and seductively walked to him.

The song 'I'm in Luv wit a stripper' started to play in his head, but he quickly shook it off. He wasn't going to let himself fall into Princess' trap.

"I'm guessing that you liked what you just saw." She asked.

Jack turned to avoid her lustful stare. "No…"

Princess chuckled at his response. "You probably didn't I was a dancer, did you?"

Jack turned back and looked her over.

"I kinda expected it, I mean, look at what you're wearing."

She had on a yellow sleeveless sweetheart top (which was too small for her), a pair of black high waisted shorts, high heel boots that came up to her knees. A bowtie and some cufflinks made her appear like a servant girl, and it also completed her stripper look.

"Oh, I know you like it." She said with a smile, then she continued to look Jack over.

"I see that you dressed for me."

Jack glanced down at his outfit. It was nothing special, just a sleeveless dress-shirt with a white tie.

"I didn't dress up for you. I dressed up for Blossom."

"Oh, please. You know purple's one of my favorite colors." She said while walking out the room. "And also, you need to stop wearing your pants so tight; it's making it really easy to tell how you feel about me. It's not like I mind, I just thought you should know."

Jack blushed a deeper shade of red and followed her out the room. He swore that she could look down there without looking down there.

"Can you stop doing that!" he whined.

Princess leaned against the stair rail and examined the party-goers down below.

"You know I can't help myself Jackie. I like what I see…"

He walked up and stood next to her.

"What were you doing in there anyway… you know, by yourself."

"I was practicing for a show I'm putting on later. It's ten dollars to get in."

"Ten dollars?! Are you for real?!"

"Yup, and it's plus another twenty if you want a little something extra after the show."

"Why do you do stuff like this? You're a freakin' millionaire."

Princess stiffen up when Jack asked her that question.

"That's not my money… it's my father's…"

Jack could tell by the way she stressed the word father, that there was something up between her and her Dad. He could relate to her there. Don't get him started on the relationship he has with his parents, if there even was one.

He turned to find Princess studying him with an intense look.

"What are you staring at now?" he asked, a bit annoyed.

"I never knew how pretty your eyes were… they're like rubies… I like rubies."

That was the first time Princess ever complimented him on anything above the beltline. He didn't know what to do or say about it. It just felt nice.

Maybe there's more to her than meets the eye, he thought.

Princess broke her stare and went back to examining the crowd. Then, she quickly tugged on Jack's shirt.

"Look who just came." She said with a grin.

Jack looked down to see Brick and his brothers walking into the foyer, and then he turned and gave Princess a nod.

It was game time.

Brick walked into the grand foyer with his brother Boomer following closely picking lint of his shoulder.

"Can you please stop that?" Brick asked.

"I'm sorry… I just want to make sure you look perfect for Blossom."

Brick looked down at his outfit. Boomer had helped him picked it our earlier this afternoon. It was just a regular V-neck t-shirt, a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, and a pair of some of his old red converses. The outfit wasn't anything extraordinary, but the item that really put him over the top was the black leather vest that Boomer let him borrow. He was actually surprised that Boomer let him us it. It was his most prized article of clothing, costing over 150 dollars. If he got more than a drop of water on it, he was pretty sure Boomer was gonna kill him.

"He looks fine, man." Butch said while entering the room.

Boomer crossed his arms. "Yeah, that coming from the guy wearing sweatpants and a tank op. This party is supposed to be casual formal."

"Man, chill out. I gotta keep my clothes loose, just in case things get a little hot later on. If you know what I mean."

Boomer blushed and Brick just rolled his eyes.

Butch laughed. "Oh, I forgot. You two haven't tapped ass yet. Aw, man, that's tragic."

"What it do dawg?" said Mitch Mitcherson, the football team's number one kicker, and Butch's best friend.

"What up, homie?" Butch said while grabbing his hand.

"Nothing but the ceiling. So, whatcha been up to?"

"Aww nothing, I'm just laughing at these two virgins over here."

Mitch looked over Boomer, surprised.

"What?! You still haven't given it to Bubbles yet? What's taking you so long?"

"I know right," Butch said. "I would have been tapped her fine ass."

Boomer felt uncomfortable about the way they were talking about his girlfriend, and Brick could feel it too.

"Don't talk about her like that." Brick said.

"Okay man, we're sorry." Mitch said, then he turned back to Butch. "Did you hear about Princess' show?"

Butch went in his pocket and took out thirty dollars.

"I'm already ahead of ya."

Mitch went in pocket and took out thirty dollars.

"Aww yeah! We about to get some."

Brick quickly reached out and snatched the money from his brother's hand. He couldn't believe that after all Princess had done, Butch still wanted to go see her. It made him sick to his stomach.

"Hey man! Why did you do that for?!" Butch yelled.

"What? You owe me money anyway."

"Whatever I don't need that money. I got girls lined up to get some of this D."

"Congratulations, do you want a medal?" Brick asked sarcastically.

"You're just jealous that I can get any girl I want."

"Any girl? Yeah right."

"Do you wanna bet?"

Brick smiled at him. "As a matter of fact, I do. I bet you all my report card money, which is around two-hundred and seventy dollars, that you can't get this girl."

"You have yourself a deal. Now who's the girl?"

"Buttercup."

Butch looked at Brick with a confused expression.

"Who?"

"You know, Blossom and Bubbles' sister, the volleyball captain, she plays in jazz band with me."

"Oh, her?" Then he started to laugh. "Better just hand me the money right now."

"You actually think you're gonna win? Now that's funny."

"Man, please. After I'm done with her, she's gonna be begging for more. Now where she at?"

Boomer checked his phone.

"They're not here yet, but Bubbles said they're on their way."

"Good, I'll wait for her." Butch said. "Brick, you better have that money for me when I get home."

Then he and Mitch walked into the crowd.

"Buttercup? Are you serious? She's like the toughest girl I know." Said Boomer.

"I know right. Butch gets told off by BC and I get to keep my two-hundred and seventy dollars. It's like a win-win situation."

"Well, I'm going outside to wait for Bubbles. Are you gonna be alright by yourself?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you never know. Blossom could come out of nowhere and surprise you."

"Yeah okay, and how can she do that if she's riding with Bubbles and Buttercup."

"I don't know… I guess you're right. Well, see you later."

"See ya, bro."

"He's alone now. Let's get him." said Jack.

Him and Princess were secretly watching Brick and his brothers from behind a decorative indoor tree.

"Be patient, Jackie." Princess said while slowly rubbing his arm, which was rather muscular for a scrawny boy like him. She wondered if he worked out.

"You have to let things like this flow smoothly. You can't rush it."

"Well, it's taking to damn long. I want to beat this guy already."

"Oh, Jackie. Everyone knows you'll never win in a fight against Brick. You're too little."

Jack gave Princess an irritated glare.

"Bite me…"

Princess brought Jack closer and purred like a kitten.

"I love it when you talk dirty."

Jack pushed her away and began to walk into the next room.

"I'll be glad to give you a sneak peek of my show, I know you want to."

Jack continued to walk away, ignoring everything that girl was saying.

Princess smiled. She only said that thing about him and Brick to make him mad. And it worked like a charm. She needed Jack to be heated up for the grand finale going down later tonight.

She stepped from behind the tree and began walking to her next victim.

It's time to start another fire, she thought.

Brick was waiting patiently in the foyer, until someone came and covered his eyes.

"Guess who."

Brick tensed up as soon as he heard her voice.

"Princess…" he said angrily.

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner. Do you want your prize now or later?"

"Stay the hell away from me."

Princess giggled. "So, is your brother coming to my show? He was all up on Twitter saying he couldn't wait to be with me."

Brick wanted to call her a liar, but now that he knew about the relationship that Butch had with her, he had no choice but to believe her.

"Think again Princess. Butch is not leaking anymore information to you."

"Oh, Brickie!" She started to clap. "Bravo, you figured it out!"

Then she went up to him and placed a finger under his chin.

"You're a smart little boy, aren't you? Well, I'm pretty sure you'll never figure out the rest, but let me give you a hint. It involves you and your little girlfriend… oh, what's her na-"

Brick quickly grabbed her arm and squeezed it firmly.

"If you even touch a hair on Blossom's head, I'm going to slap you so fucking hard, that you won't be able to feel your face for a week."

Brick wanted to scare her into staying away from him and Blossom, but Princess didn't even flinch. She just continued to stare at him with rage-filled eyes.

"You wouldn't hit a girl, would you?" she asked with a smile.

"Here's the thing… you're not one."

Her smiled faded and then she snatched her arm away from Brick's grip,

"Suck my dick, Brick."

"Oh please, Princess. If you had one, you'll suck your own."

Brick looked over Princess one more time, then he finally stormed off.

Princess took out a mirror and began adjusting her makeup.

I think that went pretty well, she thought. He's so fun to play with… I can't wait to destroy him.

A few minutes later, Buttercup was in the main ballroom sitting in the darkest corner she could find. She made it her prerogative to get as far away from her sisters as physically possible. It wasn't like she hated her sisters, they were just insanely annoying. She took out her phone and started checking her messages. She got a text from Mandy asking her how the party was going.

Boring as hell, she thought.

She started to reply to her friend's message, but something made her stop in mid-sentence.

The smell of marijuana entered her nose, and then she turned to see a boy with dark green eyes staring at her.

He had short greasy hair with a single bang covering his eye. His arm and chest muscles were clearly exposed through his tank top, which read 'cool story, babe. Now go make me a sandwich.' He also had on a pair of black sweat pants with the word 'THS Football' sowed on the sides, and a pair of green and white Air Jordans.

Buttercup continued to look at him and the first phrase that came to her mind was…

A douchebag jock.

Butch moved a little closer to BC so that his mouth was right next to her ear.

"Hey, girl. I must be a cop because you have fine written all over you."

Buttercup rolled her eyes and turned away from him.

"Hey… did you hear me?" Butch asked. Then he lit a blunt and started to smoke it. "I said you look good."

When he spoke, the smoke from his breath entered Buttercup's lungs and made her cough.

"What the hell man!" she yelled.

"What's wrong? Can't handle the smoke?" he said with a grin.

Buttercup glared deeply at him.

"Go away…"

"Fine… but only if you come with me. I know a good spot where we can-"

Buttercup put a hand his face.

"Stop." Then she got up and walked away.

Butch stood there astonished.

I know that girl did not just put her hand in my face, he thought.

He went up to her and grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Hey, little girl. Do you know who you're talking to?"

Buttercup quickly turned around and violently twisted his arm.

"What did you say to me?"

Butch winced in pain and fell to his knees.

"I know exactly who you are. You are Butch 'Da Lucki 13' Whales, the all so popular quarterback for the football team. You're also a lazy selfish jerk who makes stupid ass jokes, smokes pot, and sleeps with all the girls in the school. And who are you calling 'little girl'? I'm the biggest baddest chick you'll ever meet, and if you touch me like that again, you're really gonna know it."

Buttercup released his arm and walked away, leaving him on the floor.

Butch got up and tried to relocate his shoulder. He cussed in pain when he finally got back in place.

Damn, he thought. That girl got grip.

He looked around the room to find some people pointing and laughing at him. He felt slightly embarrassed, but he was more mad than anything.

Now she's gonna get it, he thought.

He was about to go after him again until someone stopped him.

"Man, what are you doing?" asked Mitch. "She's gonna kill you if you go and mess with her again."

Butch turned around and made an angry face at his friend.

"I'm not stopping until that chick is down right in love with me and that two-hundred and seventy dollars is in my pocket."

"It's not worth it, man."

"Don't tell me what to do!" he yelled. "Da Lucki 13 always gets the girl, and I'll be damned if a smart-ass bitch is gonna break my streak."

He stormed off in search of Buttercup, leaving his best friend alone and confused.


	14. Connection

Brick stormed out of the elaborate mansion and started to walk angrily down a path that leads into the woods. The fresh crisp air of outside cooled him down a bit, but he was still pretty heated and desperately needed to release some stress. He went to the nearest tree and using his good hand, began to punch it. Every blow he sent to the tree sent him closer to internal peace, but he was still nearing the edge of his breaking point.

I swear to god, if someone messes with me again, I'm gonna knock their lights out, he thought.

A sudden tap on the shoulder sent him into complete rage, and he quickly turned around with his fist raised, ready to fulfill his promise.

Blossom stood there shocked and slightly frighten with the sudden fist in her face. She had never seen Brick so angry. It made her worried.

"Brick... are you okay?" she whispered.

Brick lowered his fist and blushed. He automatically felt ashamed for what he did. If he would have deliberately hurt Blossom, he didn't think he could live with himself.

"Ah, Blossom! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I-I"

"Its okay." she laughed. Then she looked down at his arm.

"Oh no... You're hurt. Let me help you."

She went in her purse and took out some disinfectant wipes and a box of Band-Aids.

"Blossom, you don't need to do that. It's not that serious." He said timidly. Part of him thought it was kinda weird that she carried items like that around, but the other side of him thought it was cute. She was like his own little nurse.

"Yes it is! There's a very high chance that you could get an infection, and you wouldn't want that, would you?"

He had a cut located on the flat side of his knuckle where the tree had scratched him. It was a small one; not even longer than the tip of his pinky and it wasn't even close to deep enough to call for such urgent attention. But Blossom still continued to gently wipe it with the alcohol filled pad.

Brick's face twisted as soon as the alcohol touched his skin, sending a sharp stinging pain throughout his hand. Blossom smiled and continued to dry off the cut by blowing on it, and then she wrapped his finger in a Band-Aid.

"There you go, all better."

Brick looked down at his newly fixed up finger.

It was probably the girliest Band-Aid he ever seen in his life. It was covered with pink glittered hearts and flowers. He was pretty sure if his brothers saw it, they would laugh their asses off. But he didn't care.

The fact that Blossom even thought that-sorry-excuse-for-a-cut was evening worth saving meant the world to him, and it ultimately meant that she cared about him the same way he felt about her.

"Thanks, Blossom."

"You're welcome, it's just… I hate it when you hurt yourself like this…"

She took his other hand and without thinking started to trace the picture she drew with her finger. Her poorly drawn cherry blossom was slightly faded, and sooner or later it would disappear. She dreaded that day; that drawing was the only thing connecting him to her.

"If both your hands got broken, you won't be able to play your lovely music." Then she laughed. "Well, I guess I shouldn't be too worried. I still can't believe you managed to play the piano with a cast on."

"Wait…" Brick said. "Does that mean… you did see me yesterday?"

Blossom blushed a bright red. Her heart started racing. This was the second time Brick asked her that, and she was pretty sure Brick was going to see through her the third time around.

"No! I didn't see or hear anything! I-I just guessed due to the fact that I know you play the piano and I… I… LET'S GO TO THE LAKE!" she said dramatically trying to change the subject.

She grabbed Brick's hand and dragged him toward a medium sized lake located at the end of the path.

"See… isn't it pretty?"

Brick looked out at the scenery, it was an average lake. The water was dark and the color was a murky green. There was nothing overly spectacular about it. He really hasn't seen anything overly spectacular the whole night, but that changed when he turned and faced Blossom.

The way the water reflected the moonlight onto her face was absolutely stunning. He could see all the individual pieces of shimmer on her skin, making her shine brighter than the star-filled sky up above. His heart melted at the sight of her and he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Yeah… so pretty…" he said dreamily.

Blossom sat on the edge of the dock and took her shoes off, and then she continued to put her feet in the water. The warmth of the lake comforted her and made her feel at peace.

"Ahhh, just the right temperature. C'mon, you should try."

Brick sat next to Blossom and did the same. Carefully taking his shoes off and placing his feet next to hers.

"See, isn't it nice?" she asked with a dainty smile.

"Yeah…"

A little too nice, he thought.

There was no way the water could have been this warm in September going on October. Something was up, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"So… um… how's the colorguard thing going?" he asked. Trying to stir up some conversation before things got incredibly awkward.

Blossom looked down and started to play with her hands.

"I don't know, it's just… it's really hard. There are so many techniques and moves you need to learn and in that short of time span? I don't know if I can do it…"

Brick looked at Blossom and nodded.

"I know how you feel. Drum Major try-outs were a killer. There were so many salutes and commands, and plus you basically needed to be a master at marching. It was May when try-outs started and I was still in the 10th grade at the time. All the upper classmen kept telling me that I wasn't gonna make it. In the history of THS, they never had a Drum Major who was a junior it has always been a senior. So, they continued to discourage me, but eventually after some hard work, I proved them wrong and I became the Drum Major."

"How did you do it?" Blossom asked. "How did you get through people telling you weren't gonna make it?"

"Well, it's not just Drum Major try-outs. I been through a lot of things in my life… being in and out of foster homes basically since I was born to age nine, certain people always trying to mess with me… and there's always been one story that help me get through it."

"What's the story?"

"Have you ever heard about the story of the Phoenix?"

"No, what's that?"

"Well, it's a Greek myth about a giant bird." He spread his arms out to demonstrate. "I mean this thing was huge, and its tail is the color of gold and scarlet, so it kinda looks like fire."

Blossom smiled deeply. She loved the way his eyes lit up and the way his body moved when he talked. It was so inspiring to her.

"So anyway, the so the story goes like this.

The Phoenix lived on earth peacefully for millions of years, but that was until the first human civilizations showed up. One civilization in particular, had a really greedy king, who wanted to kill the Phoenix for its golden plumage. One by one, he would send a solider to go kill the creature. But, each one failed because the Phoenix sat upon a nest of blazing fire, and anyone who got near it burned to death.

The king grew tired of all the failed attempts, so he devised an ingenious plan. He sent an army 100,000 strong over to the Phoenix, each solider carrying a large urn filled with water. Then, he ordered everyone to dump the water onto the Phoenix's nest."

"What happened next?" Blossom asked eagerly.

"Well, since the nest was the Phoenix's life source, when they put the fire out… it died."

Blossom covered her mouth.

"Oh no!" she gasped.

"Hold up, I'm not done yet." Brick said with a grin.

"Everyone thought it died, but then…"

He got up and dramatically flapped his arms like a giant bird.

"The Phoenix sang a mighty war cry and rose from his ashes, glowing brighter and stronger than ever."

Then he started to make loud and obnoxious bird noises.

"So the Phoenix flew off into the sun and no one ever messed with him again!"

Brick panted heavily, and then looked down at Blossom to find her laughing hysterically.

Oh my god… Did I just do that? Brick thought.

His throat went dry and his face turned a shade of deep crimson as he froze in place.

He couldn't believe he managed to embarrass himself again. He didn't understand why he acted like this when he was around her. How come he couldn't just be normal?

"Bravo, bravo, encore, encore!" Blossom cheered.

Brick was slightly shocked with her response.

"You actually liked that?"

"Yes! That was amazing, everything felt so real. You are a fantastic storyteller."

"Wow… thanks. I thought that I was making a complete fool out of myself, actually…"

"That wasn't foolish at all. You were just passionate. I can tell that story really means a lot to you."

"Yeah, it does… if I didn't live my life by that story… I don't know what kind of person I would be…"

"So what's the life lesson of the story?" Blossom asked. "I'm curious."

"Oh yeah, well, the moral of the story is no matter how many times someone burns out your flame, you always rise from your ashes, allowing yourself to become stronger than you ever were."

Blossom reached over and grabbed his hand.

"That's wonderful advice. I will never forget it."

Brick looked down at both of their hands. He couldn't believe that he was actually holding hers without throwing up or having a heart-attack or something. But then, he saw something about Blossom's hand that he didn't notice before.

"What happened to your hand?"

Blossom quickly took her hand away from his and held it against her chest.

"Oh, it's nothing, it's just a sprang."

Brick grabbed her hand cautiously and began to slowly rub his fingers around the bright pink bandage.

"Does it still hurt?" he asked, his eyes full of concern.

Blossom shook her head.

"No. Sprangs are often associated with muscle pain, so after I took some ibuprofen I was fine."

"I'm glad… I don't think I could stand to see you in pain… so can I sign it?"

Blossom took her hand away from Brick again.

"Oh no, I know your plan! You want to get back at me for drawing that picture on your cast, well that's not gonna happen."

"Why not? Are you scared that I'm gonna draw a better picture that you?"

"As if! My picture is way better than any picture you could draw, and besides, I just got this cast this morning and I don't want you messing it up."

"Oh please, I have to walk around with your lovely picture on my cast, now let me draw on yours."

"Absolutely not. You don't have a sharpie anyway."

Brick smiled at her and started to rumble around in his pocket.

"Ohhh no." Blossom said. "Don't pull it out, don't do it."

Brick pulled out a black sharpie from his pocket and waved it in her face.

"Too late Baby Cakes. Now prepared to get drawn on."

"Well, Baby Cakes." She said mockingly. "You're gonna have to catch me first."

She got up and started to run down the path, leaving him alone on the dock.

"You do know that I'm on the track team, right? I was basically born to run."

Blossom was already half-way down the path, heading back toward the mansion.

"Are you gonna try to catch me, or are you gonna continue to run your mouth?"

Brick gave her a devious smile. He was always up for a challenge.

"Okay, but you asked for it."

He got up and chased the pink-eyed girl down into the dark woods.

Butch stood in the middle of a large crowd, watching Buttercup from afar. It appeared that she found herself another dark corner to sit in, over by a window and she was now looking out of it intensely.

Man, she looks pissed, he thought.

He didn't want to admit it, but he was actually a little scared of Buttercup. That girl almost tore his arm out of his socket, not even a 200 pound defender on the football team could do that. He went in his pocket and took out another blunt. That was his third one tonight and he was already feeling the effect of the drug flowing through his system. He glanced back over to Buttercup and sighed deeply. Why did she have to be so difficult? All the other girls would die to have him talk to them, and then here she comes and just rejects him like a piece of trash. No girl has ever rejected him like that… ever.

He searched the deep recesses of his mind for a plan on how to talk to her. He needed to figure out a way to get on her good side. Well, if she had one. He thought for a while and his mind came up blank. He couldn't believe how hard this was.

While he was thinking, a random blond haired girl bumped into him. She tried to make it look like an accident, but Butch knew she did it on purpose. He took a second look at her and was pleased at what he saw. Her blue jeans hugged her body tightly and her red and white t-shirt showed off her naval perfectly. Just the way he liked it.

"If you do that again I'ma beat that ass." He said playfully.

The blond gave him a seductive look, and then she blew him a kiss.

Butch responded with a grin, then he pretended to catch the kiss and put it in his pocket. The blond giggled and continued onto the next room.

Now, how come it can't be that easy, he thought.

He could basically say whatever to a girl, and they would literally drop to their knees and beg him for sex. Which he didn't mind; he liked to have a good time. But this one was different. He actually had to think about what he wanted to say to her, and make sure it didn't piss her off even more.

On the verge of giving up, Butch took one more glance around the room. He saw another familiar looking blond standing over by the refreshment table.

Just the girl I wanted to see, he thought.

"Yo, Bubblegum!" he called out.

Bubbles turned around and smiled brightly, her cheeks stuffed with sugary treats.

"Sugar Daddy!"

She ran over and gave Butch a big hug. She squeezed him so tightly that he could barely breathe.

"Woah, whatcha trying to do? Kill me?" he said with a laugh.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so hyper right now."

He looked to find the blond haired girl shaking slightly.

"Yeah, I can tell. What did I tell you about eating all that candy?"

"I can't help myself. I'm just ready to go. TURN UP! LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"

Butch couldn't help but to crack a smile. "Calm down, Bubblegum. Damn, if you're this hyped up after eating some candy, I can't even image whatcha gonna be like if you got some alcohol in you."

"I don't drink silly. All I had was some chocolate éclairs and some punch… which tasted kinda funny now that I think of it."

"Bubbles, they spiked the punch. Don't drink anymore of it."

"Spiked the punch? What does that mean?"

Butch reached over and petted her on the head. It was so like her to be this incredibility clueless.

"Nothing, Bubblegum. So what's up with your sister?"

"You mean Buttercup? What's wrong with her?"

"When I tried to holla at her, she almost ripped my arm off."

"She did?! Oh, I can't believe her she always has to- wait… YOU LIKE BUTTERCUP?!"

Butch put his hand behind his head.

"Well, something like that…"

He didn't want to tell Bubbles about the bet, mostly because he didn't know how she would react.

"Oh my god! This is a dream come true. It's about time Buttercup gets a decent boyfriend. You guys are going to look so cute together! Oh my god, image Blossom and Brick, you and Buttercup getting married on the same day, and when we have children, we can go down the alphabet and have all their names beginning with the letter C. Like Corey, Cara, Cooper, Claire-"

Butch covered her mouth with his hand.

"You talk to damn much. Now how do I get on her good side?"

Bubbles took his hand off her mouth and looked him in the eyes.

"Okay, I'll tell you, but you have to keep it a secret. I know for a fact that she hates boys like you."

"Well, that's encouraging." He said angrily.

"But, I do know that she likes the sensitive bad boy types, she tries to deny it, but going on her past boyfriends, I know it's true. You're already a bad boy, now all you need is the sensitive part. So here's what you're gonna do. Go up to her and tell her that you're sorry-"

"Sorry?! For what?! She's the one who wants to fucking kill me!"

"Do you want her to like you or not?"

He wasn't the type to apologize, especially to a bitch like Buttercup, but he desperately wanted that money.

"Fine, I say sorry to her and what else?"

"Then you just walk away."

"Walk away? Why the hell would I do that? I want her to talk to me."

"Trust me on this one; she will come up and talk to you. And when you do get the conversation started, try not to act like a… well… a douchebag."

"A douchebag?! What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You know, don't use those corny pick-up lines that you always use-"

"Why not, the chicks dig that!"

Bubbles glared at him.

"Okay, okay, no pick-up lines. What else?"

"And DO NOT touch her. She hates that."

"Yeah, I know. I have the shoulder pain to prove it."

"And lastly, just follow her around. Not like a stalker or anything, just go to some of her games and look for her in the hallways. Her last boyfriend did that, and she basically fell in love with him."

"Who was her last boyfriend?" he asked.

"I'm not going to tell you."

Butch gave her an intense look in the eyes and Bubbles finally cracked.

"Okay! I can't tell you his name, but I can tell you that he goes to Crimesburg High."

"Oh, so he's that kinda guy?" Butch asked with a grin.

"Yup, he is a total gangbanger. My parents hated him, but BC couldn't stay away from him. They were inseparable."

"So what happened?"

"Well it's kinda personal… but I think he cheated on her."

"Woah… that's harsh…"

No wonder she's so hostile toward guys, he thought.

"Yeah… I really hope you two get together. She really needs somebody right now."

"W-what's going here?"

Butch looked over to his brother Boomer to find a shocked expression on his face. Then he glanced down at him and Bubbles. They were still hugging; with their bodies pressed tightly together and their arms wrapped around each other.

Did we really stay like this the whole time, he asked himself.

Bubbles looked at her boyfriend, then she looked back at Butch.

"Oh, I'm sorry…"

Then she released herself from Butch's grip.

"I didn't realize we were still hugging. You're just so huggable, like a warm fuzzy bear. Oh, I got it! That can be your new nickname for the week, Papa Bear!"

"That's sounds about right. And what do I call you? Goldilocks?"

"Oh my god! That's perfect; it's just like the story. You better watch out Butch, I'm gonna eat your food and sleep in your bed!"

"You can sleep in my bed anytime you want to, Baby." He replied with a sly grin.

Boomer quickly grabbed his girlfriend by the arm and pushed her away.

"Bubbles, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure Boomer." Then she waved over to Butch. "Bye, Papa Bear!"

"See ya, Goldilocks."

Boomer gave his brother an irritated glare and Butch just responded with a shrug.

"So what's up with you and Butch?" Boomer asked Bubbles.

"Oh, we're just friends."

"Yeah, sure, friends just give each other nicknames like Papa Bear and Sugar Daddy. What's up with that?"

Bubbles crossed her arms in annoyance. Was her boyfriend getting mad at her?

"It's not a big deal, Boomer."

"It is a big deal, because the last time I checked, you were my girlfriend not his."

"It's a Quarterback/Head Cheerleader thing. We give each other nicknames every week. That's what we do, it's tradition."

"But I'm your boyfriend and I don't even have a nickname."

"Listen Boomer, nicknames add a sense of cuteness to a relationship. You and me are already look incredibly cute together, so we really don't need nicknames."

"Oh… I guess that makes sense… but I still want one though."

Bubbles wrapped her arms around him.

"Okay… how about…" she leaned over and gave Boomer a firm kiss. "Sweet lips…"

Boomer's eyes lit up and his cheeks turned a bright pink.

"Yeah, that could work."

Bubbles smiled. "C'mon Sweet Lips, I have some more presents to give you."

"Presents? But it's not even my birthday."

"I know…"

Boomer let out a dreamy sigh, and Bubbles took his hand and lead him to another room.

Butch watched the couple walk away, then let out a disgusted groan. He didn't understand how a girl like Bubbles ended up with wimp-of-a brother.

It's unfair, I saw her first, he thought.

He started to think about the first time he meet the blue-eyed blond, but then he quickly shook it off. He didn't have time to reminiscence about his brother's girlfriend. He had a bet to win.

He began to walk cautiously toward Butter, thinking about the instructions Bubbles had given him.

There's no way in hell this is gonna work.

But he had no choice. It was better than any plan that he could come up with. He casually stood next to Butter and waited until she noticed him.

Buttercup sensed a presence standing near her. She didn't even have to turn around to figure out who it was, his stench gave it away. She continued to look out the window, in hope that he'll eventually go away if she ignored him long enough. But after a minute or two of doing that, Butch was still standing in the exact same spot.

Buttercup rolled her eyes.

I guess I'm gonna have to scare him off again, she thought.

"Do you want me to rip your other arm off?" she asked irritably.

Butch looked down at her and shook his head. "No…"

"Then what the hell do you want?"

"I need to tell you something."

"What?"

"I'm sorry."

Butch walked away like he was told, leaving Buttercup there to collect her thoughts.

I can't believe I did that. There's no way that worked.

A few moments later Buttercup came and lightly tapped Butch on the shoulder.

"What did you say to me?" she asked softly.

Butch was surprised with two things. One, the fact that Bubbles' plan actually worked (maybe she was smarter than she looks), and two, he was surprised with her tone of voice. He had never heard talk so softly. She was usually irritated or annoyed.

"I said… I'm sorry about earlier. That wasn't cool…"

"Oh… well, I guess I'm sorry about your arm…"

He started to walk off, but Buttercup pulled him back.

"What's your deal? This is so not like you."

Butch turned and smiled at her.

"Well, sometimes people change for other people."

Buttercup's eyes narrowed.

"You're up to something."

"Well, if that something is trying to ask you out, then I'm totally up to something."

"I wouldn't go out with you if you were the last creature on this planet."

Butch shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever."

"Wait… that's it? You're not gonna try harder to get me to go out with you?"

"It's clear that you're not interested, so why would I push you?"

"What do you mean?! You do that to every other girl!"

"Well maybe… you're not like other girls."

Buttercup didn't know how to respond to that comment, mostly because she never expected it to come from the very person she hated.

"What's wrong, cat got your tongue?" he asked with a grin.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" she yelled. "DON'T YOU HAVE SOME GIRLS YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE SCREWING?"

"I guess." Then he turned and faced Buttercup one last time. "So maybe I'll see you later?"

"AS IF! THE NEXT TIME YOU COME UP TO ME, I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!"

"I'll be looking forward to that."

He waved goodbye and disappeared into the cluster of party-goers. As he walked off, there was one thing that entered his mind.

I got that bitch right where I want her.

Buttercup sat down and buried her head in her hands. Her face was warm and her heart was racing.

Not again, she thought.

Blossom ran as fast as she could through the dark forest, her feet making a loud pounding sound every time she took a step. She looked behind her to find Brick slowly catching up. The red-eyed boy was right about one thing; he was fast, but not fast enough to outsmart her. She slowed down purposely so he could he catch up with her, then when he was at arm's length, she quickly changed directions, heading back the way they came.

The sudden change of direction was a surprise to Brick, and unable to stop, he was sent crashing into a tree. He picked himself up and gave her a sly expression. He never knew how agile and light on her feet she was.

"You're just a sneaky little one, aren't you?" He yelled out.

Blossom turned her head slightly and stuck her tongue out at him, then she continued to run.

"Sooner or later I will catch you."

"Please…" she said heavily in between breaths. "You couldn't catch a cold…"

"Oh, yeah? Well, I still have a ton of energy left, and I can tell you're about to run out."

Brick's observation was correct, and Blossom began to slow down. He used this opportunity to reach over and grab her hand.

"Gotcha!" he said proudly.

Blossom quickly turned around and tried to pull her hand free from Brick's grip, but she pulled a bit too hard and the force sent both of them tumbling to the ground.

Brick opened his eyes to find himself face first in Blossom's chest. They panted heavily with their hearts beating, almost in unison. Somehow he had fallen on top of her. He looked up and their eyes meet for a second, but to him it felt like an eternity.

"B-Blossom! I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to knock you down."

"It's okay, it was kinda my fault anyway."

"Oh, okay…"

Awkward silence…

"Can you get off of me now?" Blossom asked.

"Oh yeah, of course!"

He got up from on top from Blossom and helped her to her feet.

"I'm so sorry…" he whispered again.

Blossom brushed some dirt from her clothes, and then smiled up at Brick.

"It's okay really… well, I guess you won."

Brick nervously rubbed his neck. "Yeah, I guess I did…"

"Let's go back down to the lake. There's more light down there so you can sign my cast."

"Okay, sure…"

They make their way down the dirt path back toward the dock. It was close to eleven o'clock and the wind was picking up, making it rather chilly out.

Brick turned to Blossom.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

"No, not really." She replied. Then, a gust of wind swept by, making her shiver a bit.

"Well, maybe a little."

"It's not much, but maybe this can help."

He took off Boomer's vest and gave it to her. Blossom took the vest from his hand and continued to put it on.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

A few moments later, the couple was sitting back at the dock, enjoying the scenery. Blossom then turned to Brick and held her hand out.

"Okay, I'm ready for you to sign it."

Brick went in his pocket and took out the sharpie.

"Get ready to get your mind blown by my awesome drawing."

"Yeah, we'll see." Blossom replied.

Brick started on the drawing, but then glanced back up at Blossom.

"Hey, no peeking. I don't want you stealing my secrets to my artistic talent." He said with a grin.

Blossom playfully rolled her eyes, and turned her head.

"Okay… almost there annnddd… done. You can look now."

Blossom looked down at her cast; the she gave Brick an expression that was a mix of confusion and light-heartedness.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

The drawing was nothing more than a simple rectangular box. You know, the one with six sides and eight corners. That's what he drew… a box.

Brick smiled and pointed a finger at her.

"I can totally see it in your face. Your complete jealously of my perfection."

"That's unfair. You cheated!"

"Hey, that's what they call me. Whatcha want me to do, change my name?"

Blossom crossed her arms and looked away.

"Yes, yes I would actually."

"Okay, what do you want me to change it to?"

"I don't know, something that's harder to draw than a rectangular prism, like Barium or Boron."

Brick laughed. "Who names their kids that?"

"Hey, that was the first thing I came up with!"

"You are such a nerd…"

"I'm not the one who's in marching band."

"Yeah… I guess you're right… we're both nerds…"

Blossom raised her hand up.

"Nerds with matching casts…" she looked up at Brick with sparkling eyes. "We're the same now…"

Brick reached over and touched his cast to hers, giving her the same dreamy expression.

"Yeah… we are."

Blossom slowly starting drifting toward him, her face getting ever so closer to his. Brick automatically started to heat up, with beads of sweat forming on his forehead and his hands shaking slightly.

Is she trying to kiss me?! Oh my god, what do I do?! I never kissed a girl before, well maybe Bubby, but that doesn't count, plus it was on the cheek. Blossom's an actually girl girl that I like and she wants me to kiss her on the lips. Oh god, what if I do it wrong? What if there's some proper kissing technique and I completely screw it up. She'll never want to talk to me again, then she'll tell her sisters, then her sisters will tell their friends, and then their friends will post it on Facebook, then the whole world would know, and no one would want to date me, and I'll be forever alone in Bubby's basement with a whole bunch of deranged cats!

Brick looked down to see Blossom right under him, with their noses almost touching. He was so busy rambling on in his mind, that he didn't notice her.

"Hey, Brick. I have a surprise for you."

Brick gulped nervously. "W-what is it?"

"This!"

Blossom dipped her hand in the lake and splashed Brick with some water.

Brick blinked his eyes in confusion. But then a wave of relief washed through him. He would rather get a little bit wet than to kiss a girl on the lips.

"Ha ha! I got you good!" Blossom laughed.

Brick dipped his hand in the water and smiled at her.

"Yeah, well not for long…"

He grabbed handful of water and splashed it in her face.

"Ahh! What are you doing? You're getting me all wet!" Blossom exclaimed.

"Well, you started it. What goes around comes around, Babe."

Blossom reached over and splashed him again, and the both of them continued to go at each other like a bunch of kindergarteners. They did this for a while and it seemed that nothing could end all the fun that they were having. But… that was until the loud alarming sound of a bullhorn traveled through the air and startled Brick.

Who the hell did that, he thought.

He looked toward the location where the sound originated from, and he could have sworn he saw the reflectiveness of a pair of yellow goggles hiding in the bushes.

He returned his attention back to Blossom, and immediately his face turned a ghastly white and his heart literally stopped. He couldn't believe what he had just done.

He had just accidently pushed his beloved crush head-first into the dark murky water of the lake…


	15. Altercation

Blossom…

Was the last thing she heard as she took her slow ascend down to the murky depths of the lake. The black water that surrounded her exhorted an incredible pressure that made her lungs shrivel up like a dried up raisin. She waved her arms and kicked her legs frantically to try to get herself back above the surface, but to no avail. All the strenuous activity quickly drained her of her energy and she continued to make her horrifying journey down. The more she went down, the stronger the pressure got, and so did her desire to do something that she took for granted all her life… breathe. All she wanted to do was breathe.

She opened her eyes to see nothing but darkness and she could no longer hear the voice that was calling; only the sound of the rushing water that surrounded her. She finally realized that she couldn't take much more of this torture, so she opened her mouth, hoping for the refreshing sensation of oxygen to enter her system, but instead she got the staggering feeling of cool water hitting the back of her throat. She reached for the surface one last time before her body slipped into unconsciousness and then the lake engulfed her whole…

Blossom…

She heard her name again. There was no way she could she could possibly be alive. She could see a bright light and she could hear the sound of bells ringing. She concluded that she was in heaven. That was the only explanation for it. She was somewhat happy with the fact that she had died. She didn't have to deal with Princess and colorguard, and besides… Brick was there by her side. She could finally be at peace.

"BLOSSOM WAKE UP!"

Blossom slowly opened her eyes. She looked up to find her sister Buttercup along with a group of other people crowding her.

"Buttercup… what happened?"

"I can answer that." Said a girl with medium length blond hair. Blossom had seen the girl before; she was one of the other Majorettes, and also Nigel's girlfriend. Her name was Rachel or Numbah 362 as her other friends like to call her.

"You fell into the lake and went into shock." She picked up a mini-flashlight and continued to examine Blossom's eyes; the sound of the bells on her bracelet ringing in her ears.

So that's what it was, Blossom thought.

She felt slightly foolish that she thought that she was in heaven. What a total impossibility.

She sat up straight and blood immediately rushed to her head making it throb in pain. She placed her hand on her forehead and groaned. She never experience a headache like this.

"Where's Brick?" she asked.

"Oh, I ordered him to go get a blanket. He should be back soon."

Ordered? Blossom thought. And Buttercup thinks I'm bossy.

Brick entered the room along with Nigel, holding a red Miami Heat blanket. When he noticed that Blossom was awake, he quickly ran over and hugged her tightly.

"Oh, Blossom! I'm so happy you're alright. Here, I brought you this."

He took the blanket and wrapped it around her.

"Do you really think that's gonna help her?" said Butch while walking into the room. "Now, if she had a Boston Celtics blanket¸ she really would start to feel better."

Brick narrowed his eyes. He never took anything seriously, and he hated that.

"If you're not even gonna try to be a bit helpful, then you can leave."

"I am being helpful. I'm the emotional support."

Brick pointed to the door. "Leave… now!"

Butch shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine." Then he looked back down at Blossom. "You know Boomer's gonna kill you when he finds out about his vest."

"Oh… my… god…"

"Speak of the devil." Butch said with a grin.

Boomer stood in the doorway in complete disbelief of what he was seeing. Unable to speak, he just stood there with his mouth wide open.

Brick put his hand behind his head nervously. "Aw man, I'm sorry Boomer. I totally forgot that I gave her your vest. Are you mad?"

"No… I'm not mad…" he said in a quiet voice. "I mean… that was my limited edition Pierotucci leather vest… imported from Italy… it cost two hundred and forty-eight dollars and eighteen cents plus thirty dollars for shipping and handling… I had to save up my allowance for ONE YEAR to get that vest… NO I'M NOT MAD!"

His girlfriend came up behind him and tapped him on his shoulder. "Umm… Boomer…"

He looked down to find that he completely squeezed the life out of the cup he was holding and now the red punch was flowing out of his hand and on to the floor.

"I need some air."

He walked away out the room, along with Bubbles, leaving his brothers and the crowd of people behind.

Butch rolled his eyes. "That dude needs to get his priorities straight… so who's up for another round of drinks?"

Brick glared at him and once again pointed to the door.

"Okay, okay I'm gone." Then he waved over to Buttercup. "See ya later, Babygirl."

Buttercup quickly turned her head to try to hide the fact that she was blushing slightly.

Butch was about to leave the room until someone came and blocked his way.

He smiled. "Hey, Princess. Looking good."

Princess looked up at him and gave him a little grin. "Oh Butchie, I look good every day."

Then she glanced over his shoulder and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Oh my god! What happened?" she said in the fakest voice imaginable.

"That's what I want to know, Princess. Where's Jack?" Brick said angrily.

"I'm right here, Loser." Jack said while coming up behind Princess. Then he glanced down at Blossom and then glanced up at Brick. "What the hell did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything. It was you two. This is all part of your plan!"

"You think you're so smart, don't you Brickie?" asked Princess. "This never would have happened if you weren't so dumb."

"What are you talking about?"

"Did you ever wonder why there was nobody else at the lake? Huh, did you?"

"No… I figured because it was cool out."

Princess started to chuckle. "You're so stupid, that's it comical. The house has a problem with its septic tanks, so they had to direct all the waste pipes outside to the lake."

Blossom stood up dramatically and looked herself over. "Does that mean I'm covered in…?"

Princess smiled evilly. "That's right…"

Blossom could feel the contents of her stomach traveling up to her esophagus, she tried to keep it down by covering her mouth, but that wasn't enough to stop the massive tidal wave that was about to come out of her. She held her stomach and everyone watch as she vomited all over the clean marble floor of the room.

"Eww! OMG THAT'S SO GROSS! I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE JUST DID THAT!" yelled almost all of the girls while they ran out the room.

Blossom fell to her knees. She was feeling light-headed and dizzy like someone had just stole all her energy.

"Blossom!" Rachel came down beside her and held Blossom by the shoulders. She noticed that she was breathing rapidly and her skin was getting paler. She could go into stress related shock at any moment now.

"Nigel, go get her a glass of water. Hurry!"

"Hey, you're not supreme leader anymore Rachel. You just can't-"

"That's an order operative!"

Nigel ran out the room without giving his girlfriend a second look, running past Butch and the group of football players that were still standing there.

"Wow… she's full of shit… literally." Butch said. He looked at his team, and then the whole group started to laugh hysterically.

Brick could feel his blood boiling. He was getting tired of his brother and his stupid jokes.

"Get out of here…" he said darkly.

"Hold up, man. I was just playing."

"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" he pointed to the door. "ALL OF YOU!"

Butch glared at his brother and then gestured to the group of teens, and together they all left the room. Rachel stood up and began to follow them, but Brick stopped her.

"Expect for you, Rachel. You stay here."

She sat back down on the ground besides Blossom. "I don't know if I want to…" she whispered.

Nigel came back with the glass of water and continued to hand it to Blossom.

"Thank you…" she said quietly.

"No problem, Blossom. Let's go Rachel, it's getting late and I should bring you home before your mum goes crazy. See ya, Brick."

"Bye." Brick replied.

"Make sure you take really good care of Blossom." Rachel added, then the couple left the room.

Rachel looked up at her boyfriend. "Thanks for getting me out of there."

Nigel nodded. "I know firsthand that you don't want to be around Brick when he's mad. I have a feeling that someone's gonna push him to his limit and I don't want to around when that happens."

Blossom finished her water and placed the glass on the floor. She then continued to bury her head in her hands. She has never been so embarrassed before in her life. All she could remember was the intimidating laughs of her peers. Their eyes full of distasteful enjoyment as they prepare to document this moment forever in their minds. Blossom knew that they will never let moment go away and they would find some way to use it against her; especially Princess. She could hear it now; names like Miss Vomit and Shitgirl being thrown at her as she walked through the halls. She was going to have to live in torture like that throughout her high school years, and probably through college too.

She took another look down at her clothes, they were damp and soggy, and they stuck to her skin like the way leather does on a hot summer day. She wiggled her toes to find that her shoes were full of water. Just the thought on how she got like this made her want to vomit again. She buried her head back in her hands with tears forming in her eyes. She just wanted this night to be over with.

Brick came over and kneeled by Blossom, his eyes full of concern and discontent.

"Blossom, I'm sooo sorry. I'm sorry times one-hundred. No, scratch that, I'm sorry times infinity. No, wait, I'm so sorry that-"

"It's okay Brick!" she snapped. "I-I just… I just want to go home…"

Brick let out a little whimper and stood up. He had never seen Blossom snap like that. His heart just wanted to burst with all the enormous guilt that was being forced upon it. He has never felt like this before… toward anyone.

"Okay, let me just get my keys and I'll drive you home. I swear to god that everything's gonna be alright."

"Sure…" she replied with no emotion what so ever.

Brick let out a deep sigh. He hated to see her like this, but he hated himself more because he was the one who made her like this. He went in his pockets to retrieve his keys, but he found out they were empty.

Now, where did I put those things, he thought.

He searched his mind for an answer and then it finally came to him.

Oh yeah, I gave them to Boomer.

He went outside to the balcony to find his younger brother still mourning over the loss of his beloved leather vest. Brick went toward him cautiously; he didn't want to upset him more.

"Hey, Bro…"

Boomer turned around and gave his brother a cold stare.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I just want to say I'm sorry again… for your vest…"

"You seem to be sorry about a lot of things tonight… aren't you?"

"Well… I guess…" Brick replied. "So… do you have my keys?"

Boomer sighed. "I gave them to Mindy for safe keeping. Go check with her."

I really don't feel like running around this mansion looking for people, Brick thought.

"Okay… fine, I'll see you when you get home."

"Whatever…"

Brick went back inside and started looking for Mindy, he quickly found her over by the front door, checking people out. It was close to midnight and most of the people were beginning to leave.

"Hey, Mindy." Brick said. "I'm here for my keys."

"I don't have your keys…" she said abruptly.

"What?! What do you mean you don't have my keys? Didn't Boomer give them to you?"

"Nope, now if you excuse me, I have a lot of work to do." She said while turning back around.

"So where the hell are they?"

She faced Brick and gave him a mean stare.

"I don't know. Probably in the Lost and Found."

"And where is that at?"

"It's upstairs, the first door on the left. But you have to ask Princess, she's the only one who can unlock the door."

Brick put his hand on his head and groaned. "Are you kidding me?!"

"Do you want your keys, or not?" Mindy asked.

Brick rolled his eyes at her, and walked off in search of Princess. He went upstairs and found her and Jack standing by the door, Mindy directed him to. It was like they were expecting him.

"Hey, Brickie." Princess said with a deceitful smile.

Brick started to back up. "I don't like the feel of this. What are you two up to?"

Jack crossed his arms and grinned. "Relax, loser. We're not up to anything."

"Well, Mindy said my keys were in the Lost and Found. I'm here to get them."

Princess went in between her cleavage and pulled out a key.

"Okay," She then continued to open the door. "Go ahead and try to look for them."

The door closed slowly behind him as he walked inside the huge closet. He didn't think anything of it at first; he just wanted to find his keys. He searched around him and found an array of clothes and jewelry, but none of it was the item he was looking for. He was getting extremely restless, so he began to aggressively knock boxes off the shelf and onto the floor.

"I don't see them." He said angrily.

"Keep looking, I'm sure they're in there." Princess said through the door.

"I swear to god, if you two are playing a game with me."

"Oh, Brickie. Like we would ever do that." She said while locking the door with the key she had in her hand. She turned around to find Jack sporting an evil grin, and she proceeded to produce one of her own.

"That stupid boy would believe anything he's told."

"I know right. Punk ass bitch." Jack snickered.

Princess took a hold of his hand and led him toward the balcony overlooking the foyer.

"It's your turn, Jackie."

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

She pointed down to a deprived red- headed girl with drenched clothing and a depressed expression smeared across her face.

"It's time to get your girl."

"Man, I don't know… I'm kinda nervous."

Princess turned Jack around and began to adjust his tie and dust the lint off his shoulders.

"There's nothing to be nervous about, Jackie. With all the time you spend with me, you should be a natural ladies man."

She licked her thumb and started to clean the corner of Jack's mouth, where she spotted some dried up chocolate pudding.

"Just give her some of that Jack Spicer charm and I'm sure she'll fall for you."

Jack made a disgusted face and wiped her saliva off his cheek.

"Jeez, you're just like my grandma." He whined. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"No reason, I just want to help you out."

"Yeah right, I know your rep. You're Princess Morbucks, the notorious dictator of Townsville High."

She put her hands on her hips proudly. "Yup, that's me. But you're Jack Spicer: Evil Boy Genius am I right?"

Jack nodded slightly. He was quite surprised that she knew his evil title. It was something most people overlooked and made fun of, but the fact that she even remembered it, brought a little smile to his face.

"Okay, so that means we're both deliciously despicable. Will it hurt to be a little nicer to each other?"

"I guess you're right. Thanks for the advice… I really needed it."

"No problem, Jackie." She took her arms and wrapped them around his waist. "Now, how about you return the favor and give Princess a little kiss?"

"Yeah, I think I'll pass…"

He broke away from her grip and walked toward Blossom's direction. Princess titled her head to the side and noticed that he was blushing. She smiled deeply.

"Are you sure you're making the right choice? I mean, you'll have way more fun with me than with her."

He was already downstairs in the lobby.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." He yelled up to her.

"I'll be waiting for you up here just in case you change your mind." She yelled back.

"Well, I guess you'll be waiting up there for a long ass time."

She leaned off the balcony and watched as Jack Spicer approached Blossom. She placed her hand under her cheek and sighed.

He's so cute…

"She is such a damn liar…" Brick mumbled under his breath. "I don't see them anywhere…"

He sat on the floor with all the contents of the closet surrounding him. He basically had to destroy the room to look for his keys, and he still couldn't find them. He got up from the floor and headed toward the door. He decided that being with Blossom was more important than his stupid keys, he could probably ask someone to drive them home, or maybe her and him could take the bus home. The bus station wasn't too far from here, so they could walk. Brick smiled to himself.

Yeah… that could work. Girls like midnight strolls… yup, just me and her walking under the moonlight talking about our feelings…

His determined expression quickly turned into a sour one and he buried his head in his head.

She so hates me… I can't show my face around her again… it's over…

He took his hands away from his face and looked down at his cast. The little cherry blossom picture was still there and it brought sweet images of the time him and Blossom spent together. Sweet images that he never wanted to go away. He took a deep breath and closed his fist.

No… it's not over…

He didn't want to admit it, mostly because he never felt like toward anyone before, but the truth was… he loved Blossom. He had never met a person who had so much in common with him. She was the first thing he thought about in the morning and the last thing he thought about before he went to sleep and that wasn't even the end of it. When he closed his eyes, she was there in his dreams also. Her and her impeccable beauty sending him into a sweet slumber, in which he never wanted to wake from. And when he finally did, the cycle would just repeat it's self all over again. He couldn't believe it took so long for him to realize this. She was the only one for him and he loved her so much.

"That's what I have to do…" he said to himself. "I have to tell her that… not in another language, but to her face in complete English. That's the only thing that's gonna fix this… then she will forgive me and we can finally be together… and Princess and Jack can go fuck themselves… or each other, I don't really care."

He took a deep breath once again and reached for the doorknob. If he was gonna do this, then he better go ahead and get it over with. He clasped the handle with left hand and turned it slightly. He was expecting the door to open, but it stayed shut. He tried again, this time rattling the knob violently. After the third try, he finally realized that the door was locked.

"Why those dirty little…" he mumbled furiously.

He placed his hands on his head and paced around the small room. He was tried his best to control his anger, but it was literally flowing through his veins like a typhoon. He started to recite every single possible curse word that he could call those two at the top of his lungs. After he was done with that, he sat back on the ground and crossed his legs.

Calm down Brick… there's no need to get angry… I just need to count to ten and this will all go away…

He took a couple of deep breaths and began to count.

One… two… three…

Things were going well, his mind was clear and he could feel the frustration and stress lifting off of him.

Four… five… six…

Yup, this was working. He was feeling better already.

Seven… eight…

For some odd reason, the number eight reminded him of Princess. And despicable images of her crept inside his mind like an unwanted pest, making him lose his concentration.

NINE… TEN!

This time an image of both Jack and Princess came up. They were pointing and laughing at him with evil disgusting expressions drawn across their faces, and that just made Brick tremble with rage. He looked down to see that he was clenching his fist so hard that he was puncturing his skin.

"That's it…"

He got up and headed toward the back of the room, then he quickly ran towards the door with all his strength and energy focused to his shoulder. The force of the impact sent the whole door off its hinges and flying across the hallway. He exited the room and searched around him. He had some business to take care of.

"Princess!" He yelled. "Where are you?!"

"I'm right here, Brickie. Jeez, you don't need to yell."

He turned around and found Princess standing next to him with her hands on her hips.

"Did you really just break my door? You know you're gonna have to pay for that, right?" she said.

Brick gave her an intense glare. "You locked me in the closet."

"For real? I swear it wasn't intentional. It was an accident, that's all."

"That's a load of bull shit, Princess."

She chuckled. "Yeah, something that you should know a lot about, since you pushed someone head first in it."

"There are so many things I want to do to you right now…"

"Ooooh, are they dirty things?" she asked with a seductive look in her eyes.

"Oh, they're dirty all right." He replied with an evil grin. "Do you want me to demonstrate?"

He walked toward Princess with his fist clenched until she was up against the wall.

"What's wrong Princess? I thought you weren't afraid of me?"

She wasn't before, that was because she thought Brick would never hit a girl. But now, he was so fired up, that she thought that very assumption could come true, and she was honestly afraid for her well-being.

"Is it really a good idea to be spending all your time on me?" she asked with a sense of nervousness in her voice.

"What are you talking about?"

"Right now as we speak, Jack is driving off with your girl. Oh, maybe I shouldn't say that, because she wasn't even your girl in the first place."

Brick looked over the balcony and found that Blossom had indeed left her original position on the floor, so he had to believe Princess was telling the truth.

He let out a disgusted groan and began to walk away.

"I'll be back for you later…" was the last thing he said to her before he vanished from her sight.

Usually, Princess would have responded with some kind of smart comment, but this time she kept her mouth shut. She just wanted to revert his attention off of her and pushing his buttons wouldn't have done that. Besides, she wasn't his target. Someone else was…

"Hey, Spicer!"

Brick searched the whole mansion until he finally found Jack standing outside by his motorcycle. Jack turned around and gave him a smug smile.

"Well, look who we have here."

"Where… is… she?" he asked, his voice dark and harsh.

"Who the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me you dumb fuck, you know damn well who I'm talking about. Where's Blossom?"

"There's no need for name calling, man."

"Answer the damn question!"

"Wow, someone's a bit cussy tonight. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth, oh wait, you don't have one."

Jack began to laugh at his own joke while Brick just stood there and stared at him. He didn't find that amusing.

"Some people have no sense of humor…" he whispered to himself. "Well, if you must know, Blossom is inside. I brought her some extra clothes and she's changing."

Brick pointed a finger at him. "That proves that you had something to do with this! How would you know to bring some extra clothes for her? You and Princess planned this from the start!"

"Here we go again with this. You're like a broken record you know that. "Jack walked up to Brick until he was inches away from his ear. "No matter how many times you say that, no one's gonna believe you. You should just give up; it's time for the bad guys to win for a change."

"I will never let you two win."

He broke his stare with Jack and began to storm off.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Jack asked, already knowing the answer to his question.

Brick ignored him and continued walking toward the mansion.

"She doesn't want to talk to you. She hates you."

Brick froze in his steps and just stood there with his back facing Jack.

"You know what… you and Princess were made for each other. You two have so much in common…"

Jack chuckled. "Yeah, and what's that?"

Brick turned around and gave Jack a glare so intense that it could burn holes through solid stone.

"Both of you are motherfucking liars."

"Psssh, you're the one to talk. You been lying through your teeth your whole life."

"What could you possibly know about me?"

"I know enough." Jack said with a sly smile. "And while you were bitching and moaning by yourself in a closet, I told Blossom all about it."

"You what?!" Brick yelled.

"So, I'm guessing you know what I'm talking about then. Good, now listen up because I'm only gonna say this once."

He went up to Brick and placed a finger on his chest.

"You better stay from Blossom. I told her everything about your life before you came to Townsville. And when I was finished telling her, she was absolutely disgusted with you." Jack place a hand on his head and started to laugh. "I find it really funny actually. I mean, how long were you gonna try to hide this? Well, it doesn't matter now anyway, because she's wants nothing to do you. So, I suggest you and your dumb ass brothers go back where you belong; on the streets eating out of dumpsters like a bunch of fucking animals. Because that's all you'll ever be. Filthy, dirty ra-"

Jack couldn't finish his sentence due to the fact that he just got jabbed violently in the face. He backed up almost tripping over himself with his hand covering his nose, which was now bleeding heavily.

"WHAT THE HELL, MAN!" he whined loudly through his hands.

Brick answered him by sending a right uppercut towards his face, this time aiming for the sweet spot underneath the chin. The impact of the punch sent him flying through the air and he landed on ground with a huge thud, and with his head bouncing off the concert like a basketball.

Jack laid there on the ground half way to unconsciousness. He had a splitting headache and he was pretty sure he had a concussion. He could barely hear anything and the tears forming in his eyes made his vision blurry. The only thing he could see was the figure of the inflamed re-headed boy headed for him. He tried to crawl away, but his body felt like lead and there was no possible way he could move himself, so he had no choice but to stay where he was.

Brick breathed heavily as the gray-skinned boy laid on the ground. Part of him thought that maybe Jack had learned his lesson, but the other side of him thought that he hasn't had enough. Right now, that side was in complete control of his body.

He walked towards Jack still enraged in angry. He wasn't done with him yet. He could never be done with the person who took away his only chance to be with the one he loved. Jack was going to pay, and he was going to pay the hard way.

He went on top of Jack and grabbed ahold of his collar, then he reached his arm back and slammed his fist into his face. Jack let out a sharp cry and Brick grinned slightly.

He deserves this for putting me and Blossom through so much pain… he deserves all of it.

He started to whale on him repeatedly, each blow fueling his hatred. His cast acted as a brass knuckle of some sort and he could literally feel Jack's bones breaking from underneath his skin. He picked up the pace of his punches until his hands were nothing more that blurs of light against the night sky. He did this for a couple of minutes and when he was done, he could no longer hear the cries and moans of Jack Spicer; only the sound of the peaceful countryside behind him.

He got up from on top of Jack and looked down at his work. An evil chuckle slipped from his breath and he couldn't help but smile at what he did. He had forgotten how good it felt. All those years of bottling up his rage and now he finally had a chance to release it. He had never felt so… alive.

He heard someone coming towards him and he came out of his trance and hide in the bushes. He really hasn't felt any regret for what he did, but that was until he found out who the mystery person coming by was.

Blossom came walking down the long driveway, clean, dry, and wearing a brand new outfit. She was in a better mood now, and it was all thanks to Jack. When she was crying, he came by and sang her a little song to make her feel better. She could remember the words and she sang it quietly while she walked.

Raindrops keep falling on my head

But it doesn't mean my eyes would soon be turnin' red

Cryin's not for me

'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'

Because I'm free

Nothin's worryin' me…

He told her that his grandmother used to sing that song to him all the time when he was little. Then he went on to tell her about all the great times they spent together. He was so lively, and she really hasn't seen him like this before. But that soon changed when she asked him how old his grandmother was now. His cheerful expression turned blue and he told her that she died when he was ten. She automatically wanted to take back asking him that question. She felt so bad for him.

After that, he suggested that he go out and find her some dry clothes to wear. At first, she denied the proposal. She didn't want to put him through any more trouble, but he insisted. Jack went and asked Princess if she could borrow some old clothes and use one of her showers, and surprisingly she said yes.

Now, she was meeting up with Jack to thank him. He was so kind to her, and she thought that he deserved a hug or something.

He told her to meet him under a large tree location in the front yard. She went where she was told and she saw his motorcycle, but she didn't see him.

She looked behind the tree and what she saw made her cover mouth and scream.

"Oh m-my god…" she cried.

She quickly ran over and kneeled besides Jack's limp motionless body. There was blood everywhere. She has never seen anything so horrible. Tears started to form in her eyes and she was on the verge of crying her heart out, but she decided against it.

I have to stay strong. I'm the only who can help him…

She examined his body and discovered some blunt force trauma located on the back of his head. She also determined that it was source of most of the bleeding. She took off her jacket and began to tie it as tightly as she could around his cranium.

I hope that's enough pressure…

She searched his body for any additional lacerations, and when she couldn't find any more, she put two fingers to his throat and waited.

His pulse is slow and his skin is cold. Dramatic shock maybe?

She wished that girl Rachel was here. She was more skilled in emergency medical procedures than she was.

She laid her head on his chest so that she could check his heart rate again.

It's still very faint… almost nonexistent…

As she laid her head on his chest, she discovered something that was even more terrifying that his incredibly low heart rate.

He wasn't breathing…

Blossom started to panic. If she didn't find the cause of this, he could… she didn't even want to think about what would happen.

She quickly ripped open Jack's shirt and examined his chest and she found that he was covered all over with vile purple bruises.

He has broken ribs… a lot of broken ribs…

She had to be careful with him. If she did any sudden abrupt movement, his ribs could puncture his lungs. And that would be a bad thing.

She directed her focus upwards to his face; if you could even call it that. The damage was so intensive that now it just looked like pile of misshapen bloody flesh. She noticed a stream a blood coming from his mouth and she had found the reason why he wasn't breathing. He was literally drowning in his own blood.

Blossom carefully flipped him over on his side, making sure she didn't touch his ribcage area. Then she cradled his head in her arms and lightly patted his back. She watched as blood seeped out of his mouth and onto the floor. She placed him back in his original position and looked him in the eyes.

"Jack… can you hear me?"

Jack let out a huge gasp and started coughing frantically all over the place. Blossom's eyes glowed with an intense satisfaction. She didn't even care that he had just coughed up blood all over her face, she was just happy he was breathing.

"Jack! I can't believe you're alright!" she yelled joyfully.

Jack slowly lifted his hand and opened his completely swollen eyes. "B-Blossom…"

Blossom grabbed his hand and held it tight, all while trying to keep the tears from flowing out her eyes.

"Jack, please don't talk. You have some serious internal bleeding… it's not good for you…just wait until help gets here…"

"I don't think… I'm gonna make it that far…" Jack let out a raspy cough. "Blossom… can I tell you something before I die…"

"JACK, SHUT UP!" Blossom yelled. "You're not going to die!"

Jack gave her faint smile. "Look at you… always the optimistic one… I just wanted to say that… I really appreciate you trying to help me out… even though it didn't turn out so good… you tried your best and that's all that matters… you truly are an amazing girl… and… a-and…"

Blossom was balling like a baby; she couldn't keep her emotions inside of her anymore. It was just too much…

"J-Jack… s-stay with m-me…" Then she desperately looked around her, looking for someone to help her.

"CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!" she yelled out at the top of her lungs.

Jack's eyes slowly started to close and he could feel his body drifting farther and farther away from the real world. He was just glad that Blossom was the last thing he saw before his vision shut down and…

…faded to black…


End file.
